Konoha Dormitory
by TheLazyWorks
Summary: AU with a lot of pairings with a lot of original characters. This is just a plain depiction of the days of the lives of the characters living in the Konoha Dormitory and those who are around them. Please don’t expect too much.
1. The Four New Transfer Students

**Disclaimer:** I did not create Naruto so I do not own it. Remember that since I will not say it again. XD

* * *

**Author's Note:** This story is a bit random because there are three people who work on this (my two sisters and I). I write most of them myself. A main character? It's every character's story so it views all of them… eventually.

As for the original characters (OC), which there are a lot of them, most of the descriptions on their appearances are on my profile page. I'm saying this because I'm too lazy to write how their hairstyles are like and what the colors of their eyes are. So go and check my profile to see them some time.

Takes place in Japan, but it's an AU story so some things are changed to our liking. Or so I like to think. XD

High School students: Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Sai, Matsuo, Aussa, Neji, Lee, Tenten, Gaara, Hiita, Kotono, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Temari, David, Nana, Asako, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Kankuro, Ayaka, Wynn, Michie, and more to come.

College students: Konan, Nagato, Itachi, Yahiko, Kisame, Deidara, Sasori, Hidan, Kakuzu, Zetsu, Tobi, Eria, Rai, and more to come.

Others: Oma (who only finished high school), Orochimaru, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, Gai and more to come.

* * *

Narrative

"Talking"

_Thinking_

"_Speaking in another language_"

* * *

**Chapter 1 – The Four New Transfer Students**

Date: Monday, April 13

"There's another school assembly today, right?" Ino questioned, putting her street shoes in her shoe locker. She put on her school shoes, turning to Sakura, Tenten, and Hinata.

Tenten nodded, already ready to leave to go to the gym where the assembly would be holding. "Nope, but it's like a weekly thing this year," Tenten replied. "Next week we'll have to go."

"What? Every Monday now?" Sakura asked. She could not believe it. What was there to talk about in the morning of the boring Monday? She pouted, "I wonder what the principal is thinking."

Hinata smiled, "It's not that bad…"

"Ha!" Ino slammed her shoe locker closed. "One of the good thing about it is that I get to see Sasuke-kun even more, since we're not in the same class this year… again."

Sakura lightly glared at Ino. "Hey, how many times do I have to say that he's mine?" she pointed herself. "Sasuke-kun will never fall for you."

"Hey! You get the advantages because you had the same middle school classes together!" Ino said. "You're even in the same class this year too! We may live in the same dorm, but still…!"

Tenten and Hinata hurried and walked away. Sakura and Ino argued too much about Sasuke. Although Tenten and Hinata agreed that Sasuke was hot, but they were not too crazy about him like Sakura and Ino were. Most of the girls in school were nuts too. There was a rumor going around that there was going to be a Sasuke Fan Club.

"Even Sasuke-kun's older brother is popular at his college," Tenten said, putting her arms behind her head. She looked up at the ceiling with a sigh. "Hot _and_ smart."

Hinata giggled. "Oh, that's right. We're going to have four new transfer students here soon, correct?"

Tenten nodded. "Yeah, but they were supposed to be here last week. It's already the second week of school. I wonder what's keeping them."

"And they are going to live in the same dorm as us?" Hinata asked.

"That's what I heard from Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-san," Tenten responded with a shrug.

Hinata stopped walking and tapped on her chin. "I wonder how the four new students are like…"

"I also heard that they lived in America for twelve years," Lee came in between them.

Hinata let out a little cry when he just appeared out of the blue like that. It scared her for a second and she gave him a small relief smile. "Good morning, Lee-kun," she greeted with a warm smile.

"Good morning!" he smiled back.

Tenten smiled brightly, ignoring his sudden appearance. "America, huh? That's great! Maybe they can help me with my English homework! I don't want to keep asking Neji for help. I've been doing that every time since last year and I feeeelll so bad about it."

"But you're still doing great in class," Hinata said, smiling shyly.

"You can ask me for help, Tenten!" Lee smiled brightly, giving her a thumps up. "We are in the same class after all!"

Tenten giggled. "The only thing you're really, really, really good at is sport, Lee."

"By the way," Lee turned his head to look around. "Where's Sakura-chan?"

Earlier last week, he finally got to see her again. Last year, she was still in middle school and he was a first year in high school. When she moved in to the Konoha Dormitory, he was very excited.

Everyone at the dorm all used to go to the same middle school too. So this year, everyone knew everyone else. The first years are: Sasuke, Sakura, Sai, Matsuo, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Temari, Nana, Kiba, Shino, Aussa, Hinata, Kankuro, Matsuo, David, Ayaka, and Wynn. The second year are: Neji, Tenten, Gaara, Hiita, and himself. It's like it had been fated for them to be all together.

"Yes, it is fate!" Lee said, throwing his fate in the air. Hinata and Tenten gave him a weird look.

Except for the college students, who also live in the same dorm. Lee have talked to some of them, but they do not seem to be interested in high school students, even though they always get together every now and then, as a rule thing for living in the dorm.

Tenten stopped by classroom 1-C and looked at Hinata. "Well, I guess we'll see each other again after school," she smiled, waving. "Later, Hinata."

Hinata nodded with a smile. "Y-yes," she waved back as Tenten and Lee continue down the hall. "See you." She entered her classroom and looked around.

"Over here, Hinata," Ayaka called with a gentle smile. She sat in the front row, with Wynn by her right side. "Sit with us."

"Okay," Hinata smiled, walking over to her. There were no assigned seats so she better hurry before someone else steal the seat Ayaka had been saving for her.

She passed Kiba, Shino, and Kankuro. Kiba sat next to Shino in the back row. Kankuro sat in the middle of the classroom.

"Hey, I heard they are coming today," Kiba said, putting his legs on top of his desk.

"You mean the transfer students?" Shino asked, keeping his eyes at the black board. "So… what's your point?"

"…Just thought I said something, man," Kiba growled. He had the same class with Shino since the first year of middle school and Shino had not yet change the way he talked. Kiba sighed heavily. "We're supposed to play a game together yesterday but the four transfers were not here so Jiraiya and Tsunade canceled it."

"I get a bad feeling about the GAME they were talking about," Shino said. "But now that we're living in it, we have to follow the rules."

Kankuro clenched his teeth, growling. He was listening to them just now. From what he heard from Gaara, who had lived in the dorm longer than they have, the 'games' were not fun. Jiraiya and Tsunade claimed it to be socializing with everyone, but the games were humiliating, dumb, and make you not want to be in the dorm anymore. But staying in the dorm is good for you and it was hard to get in. They will just have to live with it.

"Are you okay over there?" Kiba asked. Kankuro sat four seats away in front of him. He heard him growling so he wanted to be sure.

"I'm fine," Kankuro replied.

The bell rung and the students all hurried to grab their seats. After another five minutes, the final bell rung again.

Kurenai entered the classroom with a warm smile.

Everyone stood up and then bowed, saying, "Good morning, Kurenai-sensei!"

"Good morning, class," Kurenai smiled again. She walked behind the desk, leaning forward on it.

"Sit," Shino said. He was the class monitor.

Everyone did.

"…I see everyone is here today," Kurenai said, nodding. "That's good. I don't have to take attendance. I have an announcement today. We have a new classmate. She arrived late with the others because of some family issues they were having."

"What, are they siblings?" one female student asked.

Kurenai nodded. "That's right," she turned to the door. "You may come in."

A girl stepped into the classroom. She had blond hair, which reached to her shoulders, and blue eyes. She innocently walked up to Kurenai with a bright smile and then standing towards the students who were staring at her curiously.

"Would you please introduce yourself?" Kurenai asked.

She nodded. "Right!" She turned to write her name on the board, making screeching sounds with the white chalk. Some students covered her ears, squinting. "My name is Uzumaki Michie. Please take care of me. If you want to know more about me, send me a letter in my shoe locker. It's number three-two-five. Just remember to leave your number so I can reply back. Hehe."

She quickly bowed, almost forgetting to when her mother reminded her last time, bowing half way.

[…]

"Would you like to introduce yourself?" Asuma smiled at the female new student.

She had blond hair, barely reaching her shoulders, and dull blue eyes. "Uzumaki Asako," she said, half smiling. Her other half was a glare, looking at every boy in the room with it. "I don't really have anything to say, so…"

"Dude, what is her problem?" Ino whispered to Choji. "You didn't do anything to her, did you?"

Choji shook his head. "No, I never met her," he said.

David only blinked when Asako's eyes met his.

Shikamaru gave Asako a flat look. Temari grinned and patted on Shikamaru's back.

Nana sat near them, smiling.

[…]

"I'm Uzumaki Kotono," the pale girl slightly bowed. She had long untied hair, reaching over her back, and she had brown eyes.

"Please, tell us more about yourself!" Gai said, gesturing her closer to the tall desk.

Kotono cleared her throat. Then she became quiet, thinking.

"Cool, one of them is in my class," Tenten said, clutching her fists with happiness. "She looks pretty too!"

Lee sat to her right. "I think Sakura-chan is prettier," he said, smiling.

Neji sat on Tenten's left. He only sighed.

Gaara sat way in the back corner, close to the windows. He silently only waited for the introduction to be over with.

Gai looked at Kotono and smiled. "Kotono-chan, what do you like?" he asked. She was taking a while to think and there was not enough time for that so he just went and ask her a question.

She blinked and looked at him. "Sorry… I was daydreaming… what did you say?" she asked.

Everyone in the class was dead silence.

Hiita sat way in the back at the other corner. She smiled. _Huh, she has a cute personality._ She thought.

[…]

"The name's Uzumaki Naruto!" the blond hair boy jumped on desk, pointing to himself. "And I love ramen!"

Kakashi waved at him. "Alright, that's enough. We have to get moving."

"But I'm not done yet!"

Sakura's mouth was open. She thought the boy would at least be very respectful and cool, like Sasuke, but he is not anywhere near there. "What a moron," she mumbled.

Sai nodded, "I agree." He sat two seats away from Sakura's right.

Matsuo, who sat by her behind Sai, laughed. "Whatever, I think he's pretty cool," she said. "Hey, Naruto! Sit by me and I'll show you around the school!"

Sasuke had his eyes somewhere else, ignoring the new loud student.

Aussa sat behind Sasuke. "Oh, someone else interesting!" she smiled brightly. Since she lived in the dorm, people there were all interesting. Adding Naruto in, it would be great!

"Okay now," Kakashi looked around the room. "Ah. Sit by Sai. Will you raise your hand, Sai?"

Sai did as he was told.

Naruto looked at the girl with pink hair who was sitting by Sai's other side. He smiled at her, walking over to his new seat.

Sakura paid no attention to the new student, looking away.

Kakashi clapped his hands once. "Okay, let's get started," he said, smiling.


	2. Food Fight

Narrative

"Talking"

_Thinking_

"_Speaking in another language_"

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Food Fight**

Date: Monday, April 13

"You have such pale skin," Tenten said, leaning closer to Kotono in her seat. "It's beautiful."

Kotono sat in front of her. She sat very still, leaning on her palm and staring at the blackboard.

Lee walked around Kotono, smiling. "Hi, I'm Lee," he greeted.

Kotono reached for her left ear, taking a yellow earphone off. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" she asked.

Tenten and Lee looked at her. She had a small yellow MP3 player in her hand. They didn't notice the earphones because her long bangs were covering them. "You were listening to music all this time?" Lee questioned with a nervous look. Gai would never allow such a thing in his class, ever.

The blonde nodded. "…Yeah," she said, expressionless.

"Well, anyway," Tenten smiled. "So, how do you keep your skin so light? Do you live up north in America?"

She turned to the Tenten. "Oh, no. Its just makeup," Kotono said, waving her hand. "My sister was crying about it and then I let her put it on me to shut her up before coming to school."

"Oh," Tenten blinked.

"I like to meet that sister of yours," Hiita walked by with a half smile. If someone can put a makeup that looks natural on a person, she so have to see this person. "I'm Shimutsu Hiita."

Kotono nodded. "Hi, but I don't know where my sister would be around this hour. We didn't pack lunch, so maybe she's in the cafeteria?"

Tenten stared at Kotono's pale hands. "Wait… did she put makeup on your hands too?" she questioned.

"Uh…" Kotono thought for a moment. "My hands are just naturally pale."

Neji stood up from his seat and started to leave.

"Hey, don't go without us," Lee said, looking over to Neji. He stopped walking, glancing at Lee and Lee looked at the girls. "You girls want to eat lunch with us?"

"Shimutsu Hiita-san too?" Tenten whispered to Lee. Hiita never ate with anyone before and never seemed to have eaten anything ever since school started either. It kinda creep Tenten out because she just cannot read Hiita's expressions.

Hiita gave Lee a blank stare when he also invited her too, since she was one of the girls he was talking about. "Sure, why not?" she finally said.

"Uzumaki-san?" Lee smiled, looking at Kotono. He noticed the earphone is back in her ear and he waved at her. She removed it. "Did you hear what I said?"

"…No," she said, slowly moving her earphone back on.

Tenten grabbed her hand from doing so. "Let's go eat together," she said, smiling.

"If that's what you guys want," Kotono said.

Lee looked around the room for the other person in class who also live in the dorm. "Gaara-san! Let us go to the cafeteria together!" Lee waved over to him.

"What, him too?" Tenten whispered.

Neji walked over to the group. "Don't forget," he said. "One of the new rules started today. The one where everyone in the dorm has to eat together, anywhere, as long we're together."

Tenten remembered. "Oh yeah…"

Kotono blinked. "Shit… rules? Mom didn't mention about this. Man, more rules to follow…"

Hiita cracked a smile.

[…]

Michie walked down the hallway, looking around the students. She was walking along with her classmates, Hinata, Ayaka, and Wynn to the cafeteria. The boys, Kiba, Shino, and Kankuro, were behind them.

"So…" Michie started. "You all live in the same dorm as well?"

"Yep," Wynn said, clutching her fists to her shoulder level. "As a rule of the Konoha Dorm, we have to eat together. Or at least sit near each other. Some people find it a pain in the ass, but rules are rules."

Hinata nodded. "Ayaka-chan and Sasuke-kun are the ones who make sure we are doing this every lunch hour," she said.

"Oh, I see," Michie nodded, looking Ayaka. "What happens if one hides and runs away? What will you do?"

Ayaka smiled sweetly and almost too innocent. "Oh, don't worry… they _won't_ get away," she said, now smiling even bigger that had a hint of evil.

Michie stared at her as they continued to walk. "Oh… I see," she nodded slowly. _I hope Asako can escape from her then._ She thought, smiling nervously.

"LIKE I CARE!!!!" a girl's loud voice shouted angrily.

Michie knew who's voice it was and turned around, looking over her male classmates.

Asako was being drag by her classmates, Nana and David, their other classmates following them. Shikamaru yawned, Choji had his chip bag, and Temari and Ino exchanged weird looks.

Ayaka's eyes shined for a moment and she hurried to the commotion. "What is this?" she asked. "Why are you guys doing to this poor girl?"

"Ayaka-san…" Shikamaru tiredly sighed. "Uzumaki Asako is also living in the dorm. You know, since the new rule started… David-san and Nana-san are…"

"I see…" Ayaka nodded, observing the new transfer student. "So you're Michie-chan's sister. Please do call me Ayaka."

Asako stopped struggling, but David and Nana were still holding her. "Yeah, please to meet you, Ayaka-san."

"It's Ayaka," she smiled, patting on Asako's shoulders, hard, with the same too innocent of a smile at her. "Now… what is your reason for not going with your classmate?"

"I don't LIKE being near boys," Asako said, glaring at David who had touched her when he was pulling her. "And what rule? I didn't hear about it!"

Michie waved to Asako. "Sis… please don't argue about it. Can't you see how scary Ayaka's smile is?"

Asako sweat dropped. "…What do you mean by that?" Someone place their hand on Asako's head and she turned to see who it was. "Oh, Kotono."

Kotono gave Asako a faint smile, her earphones in her ears. "Let's go and eat with them," she said, seeming to understand what was going on. Her classmates were behind her.

"Wow," Kankuro blinked. "There are a lot of us willingly to follow this dumb rule, huh?" He looked at Gaara, surprised. He was going to say something more, but Gaara stopped him.

Gaara glared at his older brother. "Don't you dare say another word," he said.

Hiita stood at the back of the group. She heard a loud boy's voice and turned her head around to see who it was.

"There's no ramen in the cafeteria?!" Naruto cried. He was walking along with his classmates: Sasuke, Sakura, Sai, Matsuo, and Aussa.

"One big group indeed," Nana nodded, agreeing with Kankuro's last statement.

"Just follow the rule, Naruto!" Sakura said, glaring at him.

Michie laughed, hurrying over to her brother. "Of course there's no ramen, nii-chan!" she said, grabbing his arm. "It'll never happen!"

"Huh, nii-chan?" Matsuo said, puzzled. "So then that must mean you're his sister who also transfer here."

Sasuke walked off, going to the cafeteria that was only around the corner. "Let's go," he said, sighing. "I'm getting hungry."

Choji quickly followed him, finishing his last chip in the bag.

Everyone walked along with everyone.

Temari noticed Kotono looking at her yellow cell phone. It looked like she was texting. "Hey," she walked over to the new student. "You shouldn't be touching your cell phone, Uzumaki-san. It's not allowed."

Kotono nodded. One earphone is in her ear, still listening to her music. "I know," she said.

"Who are you texting to?" Tenten walked forward to reach to them. Kotono was a new student so whom could she be texting to? "…Your mom?"

"Nope," Kotono smiled, putting her cell phone in her pocket inside the uniform's skirt.

"Oh…" Tenten slowly nodded. She probably should not ask since she does not know Kotono well enough yet. It could have been something private.

Entering the cafeteria, the area still had not been filled with students.

Ayaka pointed to the four round tables at the back. "We'll sit over there," she said, looking at everyone. "Sit with your classmates though, okay?" she smiled.

"What?!" Asako complained. "I want to sit with my sisters! I don't want to be near any boys!"

"You're from class 1-B, correct?" Ayaka smiled again. "You can sit between one of the girls from your class. Ino, Temari, or Nana."

"Ah, oh yeah," Asako seemed to have remember, looking up at the ceiling.

Naruto dashed to grab something to eat first before anyone does. "So! What do we have today?" he went to one of the bars, getting in front of the line.

Sasuke pulled on Naruto's collar, dragging him back to the end of the line. "Never do that again," he said, glaring.

"What right do you have to touch me?" Naruto exclaimed, nearly shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Jiraiya-san gave me the task of keeping an eye on you," Sasuke said, his expression showing that he was disgusted with Naruto. "Tenten from class 2-A takes care one of your sister, David from class 1-B takes care of your other sister, and Kankuro from class 1-C takes care of the last sister. Got that?"

Asako looks at David with hatred. An aura of murder intent floated in the air. She then looked at Nana, one of her classmates. "Nana-san, will you replace this David guy?" she pleaded.

Nana smiled brightly. "Sure!" she chirped. "Since Kankuro is also doing the same job, I will make sure that I do a lot better than him!" She grinned at Kankuro, her eyes shining with rays of beams.

Kankuro only gave her a tired look.

David sighed. "There's no way I'm letting Nana taking over my task," he said.

Nana glared at him. "What?!"

"Yeah," David said, keeping on a calm face. "Once I start something that I agreed on, I won't stop until it's complete."

"We'll just have to get permission from Tsunade then," Wynn said. She looked at David, nodding to her suggestion. "If Uzumaki doesn't like being near guys, I'm sure Tsunade will reconsider it. A fight might break out if you force yourself on Uzumaki. The rule of getting along will break."

David looked back at her, silent for a moment. "You're only saying that because you don't like me," he said, giving her a flat look.

Neji sighed at them, everyone did. "Look, David," Neji turned to him. "You can just watch Uzumaki Asako from afar. Let Nana and the other girls from her class take care of her."

"Ayaka," Wynn looked over her shoulders to the blue hair girl, wanting to hear her opinion.

"Uchiha," David glanced at Sasuke, expecting him to understand that he must look after Asako.

Ayaka and Sasuke looked at each other for a second. Ayaka smiled, turning back to everyone. "Let's go what Neji suggested," she said.

"It's not going to hurt, Harui," Sasuke said, sighing at David.

Wynn grinned at David and he grunted.

Shikamaru sighed. _It's a troublesome job. Why do they like doing them?_

The line moved and time quickly passed. Some of the other students had their eyes on the new transfer students, who happened to be siblings too. Are they quadruplets, since they are about the same age?

"We are," Naruto proudly said when Matsuo asked. He chewed on his drumstick.

At his table to his left sat Matsuo. To her left is an empty seat and to it's left was Sasuke and to his left was Sakura and to her left iwass Sai and to his left iwass Aussa. Then Naruto again.

"But…" Matsuo eyed Kotono who sat by her classmates of 2-A. "One of them looks a little bit older than the three of you."

Naruto laughed, "Well…! Kotono was actually adopted. We think ourselves as… fourdruplets."

"You mean 'quadruplets,'" Sakura corrected him.

Naruto stared at her with a smile. "You're pretty, Sakura-chan," he commented, smiling bigger.

"So it's actually a triplets," Sai nodded to himself. "You three don't look like each other at all."

"You can't expect every twins in the world to look alike, duh," Matsuo said, grinning devilishly at Sai across the table.

Aussa stared at Naruto's hair, smiling. "Can I braid your hair?" she asked, giggling. Her hands were already reaching for his head and he backs away.

"What?" Naruto stood up, holding his drumstick.

At the other table, Hiita silently ate her lunch and Gaara did the same. Kotono only listened to her music, bobbing her head up and down. Lee, Neji, and Tenten were the only ones who were talking.

To Hiita's left sat Gaara, to his left was Lee, to Lee's left was Kotono, to her left was Tenten, to her left was Neji, and to his left was the empty chair.

Tenten observed the drinks that everyone got. She had lemon juice, Hiita had water, Gaara also had water, Lee had orange juice, and Neji had passion fruit juice. Kotono was the only one who does not have a drink.

"Aren't you going to get thirsty?" Tenten questioned her. She had forgotten that Kotono still have her earphones on and tapped on her shoulder.

Kotono removed it. "Yes?" she asked, setting down her spoonful of chocolate pudding.

"Do you want me to get you a drink?" Tenten asked, nearly standing.

Kotono shook her head. "No," she said. "I only like diet coke. Thanks though."

Lee gave her a blank stare. "When you eat lunch, you don't drink anything else?" he asked, puzzled.

She nodded, putting her earphones back on. She looked at the metal bowl of water, which Lee had placed on their table. _Why does he need that…?_ Kotono wondered in thought.

Shikamaru's lazy eyes looked at Asako and at David and then at Nana. The atmosphere at their table, the class of 1-B was getting heavier by the minute. Especially when David and Nana happened to be sitting right next to each other.

To Shikamaru's right was Ino, to her right was Choji, to his right was David, to his right was Nana, to her right was Asako, and to her right was Temari.

"So, anyone likes fish?" Ino asked, smiling. She wanted to try to lighten up the mood around the three.

"I don't like seafood," Asako said, bitterly mumbling about it in thought.

Temari leaned on her palm, resting her chin on it. "So, Uzumaki-san…" she started.

Asako's eyes sharply turned to her. "Please call me Asako-san," she said. "I would only get confuse if everyone starts calling me that all day but happen to be call my other siblings."

"Alright then, Asako-san," Temari nodded. "Have you and the other Uzumakis decided which club to join yet? Some of them are still open."

"I like sports," she quickly said with a happy smile. "Oh… but I promise mom not to do them too often, so I don't think I should join one. Nothing else interests me, so I don't think I'll be joining anything either."

"Promise?" Choji looked up from his lunch. "What promise? Not to ever play again?"

Asako chuckled. "…Yeah, something like that," she said, looking dead serious about it.

At the fourth table where class 1-C was sitting, Michie was getting along with everyone just fine. To her right sat Wynn, to her right sat Hinata, to her right was Ayaka, to her right was Shino, to his right was Kiba, and to his right was Kankuro.

They were already half done with their lunch.

Suddenly, a squirt of cranberry juice flew to their table, almost getting on Kiba.

"Hey!" Kiba stood up from his seat with an angry face. "Who did that?!"

At class 1-B's table, David and Asako were also standing up. They glared at each other, ignoring Kiba. Nana was the one who is sitting between the two of them, continuing her lunch before anything else happen.

"What the hell was that for?" David glared at her. He had a piece of mac and cheese on his uniform and lots of cheese staining them.

Asako stuck her tongue at him. "It's your damn fault," she said, glaring right back. She grinned after a second. "And boy do you have bad aim."

"You got THIS on me because I wasn't looking," David said, pointing to his chest. "And you saw me and dodged right away."

"That's what you call awesomeness," she shrugged, chuckling.

"Are you trying to pick a fight over there?" Kiba exclaimed, throwing his tray of food without a second thought.

Asako quickly spun around and saw the tray flying at her. "Why are you throwing it at me?" she shouted angrily, ducking. "It was David who threw it your way!"

The tray hit Nana in the head right after Asako ducked.

Sasuke stood up from his seat, frowning at the mess. Ayaka stood up as well, wanting to stop this before it get more out of hand.

"FOOD FIGHTTTTT!!" Nana's eyes shined red, full of hatred. She took her bowl of soup and just threw it into the air. It flew into the air, Nana continued to throw her food around her, and the bowl fell back down, heading down towards Ayaka.

Shino, who sat next to Ayaka, quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her away. The bowl landed on her seat.

All of the students in the cafeteria responded to Nana's 'food fight' and joined in the mess.

Naruto, Matsuo, and Aussa from class 1-A joined in. Sasuke, Sai, and Sakura backed away as quickly as possible.

"Nana's anger has blinded her!" Kankuro said, uneasy and preparing to throw his own lunch at anyone who dares to throw at him. Nana still randomly threw any food she could grab.

From his table, Kiba ran off to finish Asako off. Shino dragged Ayaka from the scene, but she wanted to try and stop them. Wynn laughed loudly, throwing food at David. Michie sat very still, nervously looking around. She was too afraid to even move since they all seem to like moving targets at the moment.

"C-Choji? Ino?" Shikamaru looked at his friends, who also joined in the food fight.

"Come on, you're only going to get hurt," Temari told him, pulling him away.

The table where the students from class 2-A sat still, silent.

_I'm getting out of here._ Hiita stood slowly up, walking away.

Neji and Tenten also stood up, watching out for anything that might fly at them.

Kotono looked around and went back to her pudding. _I should finish this first._ She quickly ate it, not moving from her seat. She turned her music on louder to ignore the loud noise the people were making.

Gaara leaned on his palm, sighing.

Lee prepared to throw a spoonful of peanut butter to Naruto, but then Kiba slightly tripped from running after Asako and bumped into Lee. The peanut butter flew off the spoon and landed in Gaara's hair.

"Ah!" Lee backed away, almost tripping over Kiba's foot. "I'm sorry! That wasn't meant for you!"

Gaara looked at the table, slowly touching the peanut butter over his hair. He turned slowly and looked at Lee with a glare. Gaara grabbed the bowl of water and threw it towards Lee.

"W-wait!" Lee lowered his body to dodge it. "I didn't mean it!"

Michie looked at the bowl of water flying in the air. It was heading straight for Kotono, who had her eyes closed and listening to her music on high volume. "Koto!" Michie quickly stood on her feet.

Diving for it, Michie put her arms around her sister's neck and the both of them fell on the hard ground. Kotono's MP3 player fell to the right side. The bowl hit on Michie's head and some of the water spilled on them but mostly on Michie since she was covering Kotono.

Naruto saw this and immediately stopped what he was about to throw to Sasuke.

Michie closed her eyes and touched the back of her head where the bowl hit her. "Oww…" she got up. "Koto, are you okay?" She looked at her sister, opening her eyes.

Kotono quickly sat up, rubbing her right eye where the water had spill over her with her school uniform's sleeve. She rubbed it hard, clenching her teeth from the unbearable, burning and itchy pain on her left eyelid. Then she started to scratch on her eyelid and the skin turned red on her pale skin.

"Oh no!" Michie grabbed her sister's hand from scratching her eye. "Don't do that! Nii-chan! Asa! Koto had… the water…!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, calling her siblings over the loud crowd who were still throwing food.

David was nearby and heard Michie. He kneeled down by them. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Kotono grabbed his arm. "Take me to the nurse's office," she hissed, tightening her grip on him. She did not know where it was after all. The skin, where the water had touched, started to feel even worse. She wanted to scratch the pain away, but Michie held both of her hands before she could.

Gaara leaned sideways to see what was going on with the threesome on the ground.

Naruto crawled to them, careful of not being spotted by anyone who planned to target him. "Right on the eye?!" Naruto said, shock. "Damn, that's not good! Where's the nurse's office?" Naruto turned sharply at David.

"That…" he pointed the way.

"Just take us there!" Naruto demanded, helping Kotono up.

The four of them hurried out of the cafeteria. David led the way down the hallway, Naruto holding onto Kotono's hand, and Michie behind them.

Gaara stood up from his seat, food flying in the air around him. He went and picked up the yellow MP3 player and he looked where the four of them had run off.

_Did I… do something?_ He wondered, remembering see Kotono's red rash around her right eyelid.


	3. The Brother Who Cares

Narrative

"Talking"

_Thinking_

"_Speaking in another language_"

* * *

**Chapter 3 – The Brother Who Cares**

Date: Monday, April 13

After calming the students in the cafeteria down within the twenty minutes of the food fight, they were all scolded. The teachers found out from another student that he heard the students from the Konoha Dormitory started the whole thing. Now the teachers expected the students of the dorm to take care of the mess, cleaning the area up as neat as possible. After they were done with that, they will have to write fifty pages and say they will never do it ever again. Write it by hand with a pen and no mistakes or spelling errors.

Everyone had some sort of food on their clothes, faces, and hair.

"This is all your sister's fault!" Kiba growled at Naruto.

Naruto wiped the floor with the mop. He glared at Kiba's remark, but did not say anything. He was more worried about Kotono, who was still in the nurse's office. She was the only person who does not have to clean or write up the fifty pages since Naruto and Michie helped her out of it.

Michie smiled nervously as everyone grumbled. She quickly worked her way cleaning the table with Kankuro.

"My bad," Asako said, cleaning the walls with a wet ragged cloth.

"This is so going into my permanent record…" Sasuke mumbled bitterly, washing the walls beside Asako.

Sakura and Lee cleaned the tables away from the group. The other tables are taken care of with the help of Sai, Matsuo, Kiba, Tenten, and Ayaka.

The floors were Naruto, Sai, Aussa, Hinata, Neji, and Choji.

Besides Asako and Sasuke, the other walls were taken off by Shikamaru, Gaara, Temari, Wynn, David, and Shino.

The chairs were cleaned by Hiita, Ino, and Nana. The easier job.

Wynn glanced at David, who seemed to be lost in his thoughts. She leaned closer to him, blinking. "Loosen up," she said after a moment. He was putting up his dead-serious-looking-eyes again.

He gave her an annoyed expression. "Be quiet," he said, scrubbing the walls harder.

She lightly glared. "Humph," she pouted, going back to her own work.

David looked over his shoulders and saw Michie cleaning the table near him. "Hey," he slowly said.

"…Yes?" she turned to him, smiling.

He looked at the ground, figuring out how he should say it. "What… just happen to your sister?" he simply inquired. "Her eye… was really red."

"She's allergic to water," Naruto said from the other side, running around to clean the floor with the mop.

"Allergic to water?!" all of the girls said at the same time.

"Oh my gosh," Ino covered her mouth, shock. "How does she take a shower then?"

"How does she survive without drinking water?" Aussa asked, nearly disbelieving such a thing actually exists.

Naruto ran too fast and slipped on the floor, falling on his back, almost hitting his head on the ground. He moaned.

Sakura sighed, "You're so stupid…"

Michie faced Aussa. "Koto doesn't drink anything because it swells her throat," she said. "But it seems like she's doing fine with diet coke for some reason."

Neji, Tenten, Lee, Gaara, and Hiita remember Kotono mentioning about only drinking a diet coke when they were having lunch, before the food fight started.

"Why diet coke?" Matsuo asked, pulling her sleeves up more.

"Doesn't diet coke contain carbonated water?" Shikamaru questioned.

Michie shrugged. "We don't know why. At first when Kotono first started to feel allergic to water two years ago, we were told to try diet coke. There were a couple of cases that some other people had diet coke and they feel fine drinking it."

Naruto lay on his back, not wanting to get up.

Sakura looked at him. "Naruto, get back up!" she yelled.

"_It's my fault_," Asako spoke in English.

Everyone looked at her, puzzled.

"_Don't blame yourself_," Michie said.

Asako sighed heavily. "_If I didn't start picking a fight with David, then Kotono would have been fine_," she said, her eyes feeling tired.

David looked at Asako. "Did you just say my name?" he asked. "What are you girls talking about?"

Naruto chuckled nervously. "_Asako… I don't think Kotono will blame you_."

"_Yeah_," Michie nodded. "_She doesn't know that it was you who started it_."

Asako slumped down to the floor on her knees. "_But what if she finds out_?" Asako spaced out. Her mouth opened and it looked like her spirit is coming out of it.

"_She'll never ask_," Michie assured with a giggle. But knowing Asako, Michie knew that she does not want to hide the fact that she started it all. Kotono is forgiving but can still hold a grudge for a while.

Naruto stood back on his feet. "_The only one who won't forgive you easily is mom, Asako_," he said, half smiling.

Asako could imagine her mother's upset face.

Tenten turned her head slowly to Ayaka while the two of them were still washing the tables. "Their English sounds is really good," Tenten said, a bit depress. "I wish I lived in America for twelve years."

[…]

School was already over. Just around five minutes after the bell rung, Gaara and Kankuro walked down the hallway, heading to the nurse's office. Just when they were about to reach it around the corner, a loud female voice shouted angrily.

"What took you so freaking long?!" Kotono's voice shook the school grounds. "Untie me right now!!"

"Geez…" Naruto laughed. "I just wanted to make sure you don't scratch your eye and making it bleed because of it."

Kankuro walked into the room first and Gaara follow behind him. "What the…?" Kankuro blinked.

Kotono had been tied on the bed, lying on her back. The white ropes wrapped around her upper body and she was kicking in the air as Naruto tried to get closer to her. There was a red rash around her right eye.

"Will you stop kicking?" Naruto pouted. "If you want someone to blame then…" he trailed off, almost saying Asako's name.

"You're the one who tied me here," Kotono said, glaring but lowered her voice down. "I can't believe you talked the nurse into this too…" She tilted her head and saw one of her classmate and some other guy.

Naruto turned his head and looked at Gaara and Kankuro. "Oh… did one of you want the bed?" he asked. He does not remember who they were.

"UNTIE ME," Kotono demanded, using her indoor voice now.

"Okay, okay," Naruto smiled brightly. He quickly loosened the ropes around her and she immediately sat up.

Kotono rubbed her right eye for a moment. It was still burning and very itchy. She stood up, walking pass the boys to leave the school.

"Hey," Naruto stumbled after her.

"Uzumaki-san," Gaara held the yellow MP3 player to Naruto's face before he walked pass him and his brother.

Naruto stared at the MP3 player. "Oh, this is Kotono's," he took it. "Thanks! She was wondering what happen to it." Naruto waved, leaving. "_What's up with his makeup?_"

[…]

Tsunada and Jiraiya were playing cards at the coffee table in the living room. The both of them own the Konoha Dormitory, which contained more than a big living room. There was also a kitchen, dining room, and clean restrooms for the boys and the girls.

The restrooms were clean because Tsunada gives everyone chores to do in the dorm. It was just one of the few rules in the dorm.

"Man, what a day!" Shikamaru opened the dorm's doors, stepping into the foyer. He took a deep breath and sighed. He touched his sticky hair that smelled like apple juice and sighed once more. "I'm taking a shower," he said, taking off his shoes and putting them aside to his right where the shoe shelf was.

To his left was the living and he could see the two owners of the dorm, playing cards. Shikamaru hurries off to do what he planned.

Choji and Ino walked in after him. The two of them did not smile. The thought of the punishment they received for causing a food fight burdened them greatly. So great that Ino did not feel like walking back to the dorm with Sasuke. Sakura was probably hugging him to herself by now.

Tsunade observed every person's face as they walk in one by one as time passes.

Temari and Nana entered the dorm through the front doors. Temari seem natural and Nana was still smiling as always. Her eyes hint that she was bother by something though.

Lee and Tenten walked in after Temari. They seemed depress but hurry and went to do their own things.

Kiba and Shino tiredly stepped into the dorm. Kiba walked pass a hallway and then into a restroom that shares both genders. Shino left to head up to his room.

Hinata, Ayaka, and Wynn looked like their usual selves. Hinata and Ayaka were roommates in the dorm so they both walked off together to get something to eat in the fridge. Wynn stared at Tsunade who looked back at her. Wynn turned away to find something to do before doing her homework.

Aussa rushed into the dorm and headed for the restroom. There were two, but she went to the closest one.

Kiba opened the door and she stopped in front of him.

"Hurry and get out," she said, jumping up and down. "I have things I need to do before night comes!"

Kiba growled, "What, did you buy another video game?"

She nodded with a bright smile. "How did you guess?"

"Eh…" he only said. He walked away, going to his right through another door and up the stairs.

Aussa slammed the door after he left.

Matsuo's laughter echoed outside. She walked into the dorm and Sai was behind her. "You're so lame!" she said, quickly running off.

Sai was expressionless and turned around the right corner, heading for the weight room.

"Sai!" Tsunade shouted from the living room. "Why aren't you at cram school?"

He sighed, slowly walking away. "…Not today," he replied in exhaustion.

"I win, Tsunade," Jiraiya grinned, playing down his cards.

She slammed the table with her fist, glaring at him. "Time out, old man! I wasn't even looking!"

Jiraiya looked over his shoulders at the clock. "Well, look at the time!" he quickly stood up. "It's about time I get going."

He hurried around the coffee table, but she stuck her leg out and he falls flat on his face on the soft blue carpet on the hard floor.

[…]

"Stop scratching it already!" Naruto said, grabbing Kotono's hands as they walked along side with Michie and Asako. "You'll make it bleed like last time!"

Kotono's right eyeball turned light pink from the scratching and rubbing, which became really sore. Her eyes twitched from the burning feeling on around her right eye. "I need to sit down," she said, snatching her hands away from Naruto.

Michie followed her. "But mom said we have to get back to the dorm as soon as possible," she said, worrying.

"You guys head there first…" Kotono said. She was very close to rub her eyes again.

"We're supposed to get there together today," Asako said.

Kotono sat on a bench and frowned. Her siblings walked up to her. She felt too tired to walk all the way over there. "It hurts," she said in a whiny way.

"We know," the three of them said in unison.

Naruto turned his back on her and bent down. "Here, I'll carry you back," he said, smiling.

She looked at him for a moment, unsure.

"Come on," Naruto said. "I'm your brother after all."

_But we're not blood related… _Kotono opened her mouth to say it, but figure she should not.

Asako went into the same position as Naruto, looking over her shoulders. "I'll carry you back then, Kotono!" Asako said with determined eyes. "Naruto's a boy so let me take you back myself!"

"Are you trying to apologize with that?" Kotono asked, half smiling.

"…You knew I started the food fight?" Asako asked, slowly crawling away.

Kotono rubbed her eyes lightly with a nod. "My music wasn't that loud at that time," she said. "I heard you picking another fight with one of the boys… his name was David, right?"

"I don't know!" Asako stood up, glaring. "That bastard…!"

Kotono slide down the bench and put her arms around Naruto's neck. "Well then, bro…" she said, smiling. "Carry me back if you wish."

"Of course!" Naruto grinned, getting up and made sure she would not slip off. Then he ran off.

"…W-wait for us, nii-chan!" Michie said, hurrying to catch up with them.

Asako blinked for a moment. "Do you think you can beat me, Naruto?!" she said, running after them.

[…]

Hiita watched the sky turn bright orange with blue. Time passed as she sat in the classroom. She was in her cram school and had it with Sasuke, Sakura, Sai, Neji, and David. They sat in the same row too, right next to each other. So when they have to discuss some things back at the dorm, they would talk here.

Although Sasuke paid too much attention at their energetic teacher, Mitarashi Anko. It was because she would scold anyone was not concentrating on their studies. He cannot risk being yell at among the students in class.

"I wonder where Sai went," David mumbled, staring off into space for the first time. He started to think about Kotono and the water stuff that was going on with her.

Sakura sat next to his right. "He probably didn't feel well," Sakura said, hearing David talking to himself. "Although, that's really unlike him."

"Maybe the cleaning wore him out," Neji said, his arms crossed. He sat to David's left.

"No, that can't be," Sakura said in doubt.

Sasuke sat next to Sakura. He kept his mouth close but wanted to join in their little conversation as well. He chose not to say anything.

Hiita did not say anything either, who sat next Neji. _Itachi and the other college students should be returning to the dorm by now…_ she thought to herself, keeping the same blank expression on.


	4. Crushes

Narrative

"Talking"

_Thinking_

"_Speaking in another language_"

* * *

**Chapter 4 – Crushes**

Date: Monday, April 13

"There! I unpacked everything!" Asako laughed happily, putting her hands on her hips. "Mom would be so proud since she wasn't here to see it!"

Her yellow blanket lay out on the bed, her orange and yellow pillows too. She put her clothes in the dresser already and everything else she owned.

Michie smiled, "I'm done too."

The yellow and black combo bedding is arranged strangely on her bed. She put her black pillow on one end and the yellow one at the other. Her checkers blanket, yellow and black, is half touching the ground. Her clothes are also in a dresser. They each have their own dressers.

Kotono was the only who had not yet unpack her belongings. She lay on her empty bed, feeling depressed. The dark blue suitcases were still standing where she left them before leaving for school.

Michie walked over to Kotono, biting her nails. "Um… Koto…" she started. "Do you want some diet coke? To cool off?"

Kotono buried her face on the bed. "…Hm," she waved her hand.

"Okay then!" Michie smiled, determined. "I'll be back then!"

Michie hurried out of the room, turning to her left and down the hallway. At the end of the hallway was another turn to the left. The last room at the end of the hall, Naruto stepped out of his assigned room, closing it.

"Why are you in a hurry?" Naruto asked his sister, who ran pass him when he gave her a smile.

"I'm getting Koto a drink!" she said, waving her hand in the air. She made another turn down the corner.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Do they even have diet coke in the dorm?" he wondered out loud. "We'll have to get out there and buy some if they don't…"

Michie skipped down the stairs and reached to the last step. She ran through the open door way, seeing the 'family room' as it was introduced earlier before she and her siblings headed to school. She made a right turn, running into the kitchen.

Kankuro and Nana both were in the kitchen, standing by the sink.

"The fridge!" Michie's eyes sparkled. It was only right next to her to her right and she hurried and opened it. There was no sign of diet coke and she pouted.

"What are you looking for?" Nana asked.

Michie closed the fridge and turned to face Nana. Then she noticed Kankuro holding an unopened bottle of diet coke. She quickly ran to him and Kankuro stared at her when she stop about a feet away from him.

"May I take that?" she asked politely with puppy eyes.

Kankuro and Nana looked at her, silent. Then they remember about Kotono's condition of water.

"Uh, sure…" Kankuro held the bottle to her. "I'll get something else to drink."

Michie smiled in relief and grabbed it from him. She quickly bowed. "Thank you!" she giggled. "Kankuro… and Nana, right?"

The two of them nodded.

"Thanks again!" Michie giggled before leaving.

Nana watched the blonde run off and her loud footsteps heading back upstairs. "You know…" Nana smirked at Kankuro. "There's nothing else to drink in the fridge. No one did any shopping yesterday."

Kankuro sighed deeply, "I already know that."

She grabbed the pot of cold water and poured them into the pots of plants that were set up along the windows. "Aren't you BEING nice to her," Nana said, giggling to herself when Kankuro tried to deny anything else while she continued to water the plants.

Up the stairs, Michie stopped right in front of Nagato. He looked down at her, silent. She smiled at him.

"Oh yeah," she remembered. He looked older than the others. "There are also some University students here too."

"…Will you please let me through?" he asked. The stairs only fit about two people but he did not want to walk close to her, who was still on the stairs.

"Ah, sorry about that!" Michie bowed, which almost hit him and he backed away. She giggled and ran off.

"…A first year?" Yahiko walked by from another hallway.

"I think," he replied with a shrug. "It must be those Uzumaki siblings that Jiraiya was talking about."

Yahiko watched his roommate walk down the stairs. He crossed his arms with a grin. "I guess that means the first game of introduction is about to start," he said, following Nagato down the stairs.

"Asa! Koto!" Michie rushed into the room. She went and jumped towards Kotono's bed.

Kotono saw her coming and quickly moved out of the way as Michie landed on her empty bed, flat on her face. "…Don't do that again," Kotono said, concerned that her sister would do that body slam attack on her someday.

"I have a crush!" Michie chirped.

Asako stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Oh my god, who is it?" she asked anyway.

"Actually…" Michie sat up, giggling. She was really enjoying herself, laughing out loud. "Sasuke-kun is cute too… Neji-kun's not bad… but this guy I just met… hehehehe…"

Kotono and Asako silently let her continue laughing.

"I think Uchiha's cute too…" Kotono said, scratching her cheek.

Asako rolled her eyes. "Oh my god!" she rolled over her yellow blanket, disgusted even more. "You two even remember their names! We never got introduced to them either! I don't even know who this NEJI-kun is!"

"There are some guys who are cute here," Michie said excitedly, ignoring Asako's remark. "Especially that Gaara guy… I love the way he put his makeup… If only I can do it for him every morning…! Oh, it would be soooooo fun!!"

"Gaara?" Kotono blinked. "Oh, you mean that character 'AI' above his left eye?"

Michie nodded. "But I still like the guy I just met," she said, nodding again. "He's older than me though. I wonder if he doesn't mind the age difference…?"

"It's not a big deal here," Kotono said. "But you're still in high school so it might be impossible for now."

"I don't even know his name…!" Michie suddenly felt depress. "I wonder if I'll bump into him again?"

"We're living in the same dorm," her sisters reminded.

Kotono rubbed her right eye. The burn was starting to fade away and she started to felt a little better. She noticed the diet coke in Michie's hand. "May I have that now?" she pointed.

"Oh, I forgot!" Michie threw it to her, which Kotono nearly caught it. "Sorry!"

"Thanks," Kotono smiled at her, opening the bottle. She drunk some, looking at Michie's smiling face while doing so. "If you like him that much, you should probably go and talk to him more."

Michie laughed. "Um, I don't know. I don't know if he has a crush on me. I don't think so. I was standing in his way so… so…"

"Is he blond?" Asako asked, glaring.

"Black hair," Michie nodded happily. "Nothing compare to that guy you hate! Hehe!"

Kotono pouted a little bit by Asako's question. "You still haven't forgiven him, Asako?" she asked.

Asako laughed evilly. "Not until he's dead!" she said. "Well… he's stuck in America so I'll forget about him… for now."

"You know… Naruto's blond too," Kotono said, reminding her.

"But he's my brother," Asako said with a grin. "And Naruto is different from that stupid asshole. Naruto's the best brother you could ever ask for! Yay for Naruto-nii-san!"

"Hey," Naruto knocked on the open door. He grinned, "The old couple wants to see us."

"Okay," the three girls said with a smile.

Yes. The best brother you could ever ask for…

"But sometimes Naruto's an idiot," Kotono said, half smiling.

Naruto faked a cough, feeling down by Kotono's statement. He walked up to Kotono, taking her hand and place the yellow MP3 player in it. "I almost forgot to give this to you," he grinned. "This one guy with heavy black eyeliner found it and gave it to me."

"Gaara?" Michie asked, smiling. "He's the only guy who has the heavy eyeliner."

"Oh, that's soooo nice of him," Asako said, rolling her eyes again. "It would take more than that to get a girl to like a person. Right, Kotono?"

Kotono had already put the music on, earphones in her ears. Her brother and sisters frowned. She always quickly put them on so she might not have heard them just now.

"Oh," Kotono went to her dark blue suitcase. She took out a big yellow and blue headphone, replacing it with the earphones. She put the headphone on and smiled in relief. "Much better…"

The Uzumaki siblings went down the stairs together and enter the family room. There was a fireplace, a few blue couches to match the blue carpet, and a large wide screen television, which filled a part of the south side of the wall.

Naruto's eyes wandered around the room, glittering. Kotono's headphone was taken by Tsunade a while ago so she seem bored to death without it. Asako and Michie exchanged smiles.

Jiraiya and Tsunade stood in front of the four blond siblings. Jiraiya grinned at the young girls and Tsunade gave him a punch in the stomach.

"So, you're all really Uzumaki Kushina's children," Tsunade smiled at them. "We have already given our introductions so let's get to the point, shall we?"

"Why do you look so young…?" Michie asked all of the sudden.

Tsunade's eyes twitched.

_There goes her questioning habit again._ Asako sighed with a light chuckle. She wanted to know herself and was glad that Michie had asked before she did.

"Mom said you two are married, so I was curious," Michie said, smiling. "Is it all right? I mean, about the age difference between people who are in love?"

Jiraiya smiled, "It was plastic surg—"

Tsunade gave him another punch with more force, but in the face this time, and the old man fell sideways on the ground. "Anyway, the point," Tsunade relaxed a little bit. "We're going to play a little welcome game."

"Game?" the four asked at the same time.

Neji, Lee, and Tenten were in the next room, which was the living room. The wall to the family room blocked their view of the siblings and the old couple. The living room contained some dark blue sofas, coffee table, and small tables with vases that held flowers and other plants.

Tenten laughed quietly, "The horror begins."

"I don't think this game is extreme as the usual ones," Neji said, doubting it. They already know what the game was, but still felt insecure for some reason.

Lee nodded. "It is supposed to be an introduction game after all… I hope," he smiled nervously.

Tsunade gave the four blondes one piece of lined paper. "The rules are simple," she started as Jiraiya handed out black bold pens. "I call it 'The Hunt for Friends'!"

"Oh!" Michie smiled brightly. "Sounds fun! I get to talk to the University students then!"

"And the rules?" Kotono inquired, looking at the writing materials. "These are for…?"

Tsunade smirked. "Well, you all will have to get the printed names of those who are willing to become your friends. But before that, each one of you will have to ask one person a question, total of four questions together."

"Why do we have to ask them?" Asako asked, imagining talking to the guys. She made a disgust face when she did.

"To get you all familiar with everyone in the dorm," Jiraiya said. "You can ask who were their first love, how old they are… simple as that. It only depends if they want to sign them."

Naruto blanked out. "…Huh?"

"You four have to go together and meet everyone who lives in the dorm," Tsunade said. "There are thirty four people living here."

"That's a lot of people!" Naruto exclaimed, surprised. "I didn't even see the other people."

"So…" Tsunade continued. "It doesn't matter if you get to everyone, since there's a time limit. Whoever gets the most names on their list gets a reward. Anything they wish for, as long as it's not impossible to grant."

Kotono frowned. "When do we have to get this done by? We already have homework."

"It will only take fifteen minutes," Jiraiya grinned. "I'll have someone come and tell you when time is up. Dinner will be serve after a while."

"Oh…" Michie nodded slowly. "We… have to eat together too? Everyone in the dorm?"

The old couple nodded.

"That's…" Kotono tapped on her chin. "…That's interesting."

"It'll be like eating together at lunch in school," Naruto said, all fired up. He looked at Tsunade with a big smiled. "Let's start this then!"

Tenten looked at Neji and then at Lee. "Sounds like a normal game alright," she smiled in relief.

"THERE!!" Naruto ran and slides on the floor on his heels. He pointed to the three in the living room, grinning.

Kotono, Asako, and Michie followed their brother and stood by his side.

Neji, Lee, and Tenten looked at the siblings, silent.

After another moment of silence, Kotono remarked, "This is how we're going to make friends with everyone? Just names on these pieces of paper within one hour?"

Michie laughed, "I don't mind!"


	5. Hunting For Friends

Narrative

"Talking"

_Thinking_

"_Speaking in another language_"

* * *

**Chapter 5 – Hunting For Friends**

Date: Monday, April 13

:: Targeting Friend Number 1, Lee ::

"Can I put makeup on you sometime?" Michie asked, her eyes pleaded as they were sparking.

"Eh? Why?" Lee asked.

"I want to make you look better," she said, smiling.

"Why do you look like our homeroom teacher?" Kotono asked, giving him a flat face.

Lee's teeth sparkled. "That's because I admire Gai-sensei! I almost forgot that we're in the same class, Kotono-chan!"

Asako thought for a minute to think of something to ask.

"Why do you have bushy eyebrows?" Naruto questioned, making a face.

"…Is that a problem?" Lee blinked with cluelessness.

"I know," Asako smiled. "What's your favorite color?"

"Green!"

Lee wrote his name on all four papers.

:: Targeting Friend Number 2, Tenten ::

"Are you Chinese?" Asako inquired, smiling happily.

"Er… no," she said.

Kotono touched her right eye. "Does it still look bad?" she asked.

Tenten smiled. "It looks alright," she assured. "I hope it didn't hurt too much, Kotono-chan."

"What kinds of hair styles do you wear?" Michie asked, jumping up and down. "Can I…?"

Naruto put his hand over Michie's mouth. "Only one question," he reminded her.

Tenten giggled. "Um… I let my hair down a couple of times… but…"

"Do you…" Naruto trailed off. He had to think what to ask not to offend her in any way. "Do you play any sports?"

"Sort of," she recalled back in middle school.

Tenten wrote her name on all four papers.

:: Targeting Friend Number 3, Neji ::

"Why is your hair so long?" Naruto asked. "Is that allowed in school?"

"I'm not going to answer such a stupid question," Neji said, narrowing his eyes at Naruto.

Michie giggled, "Can I say I like your eyes?"

Neji looked away.

"You don't mind if she does?" Asako asked, rather interested in knowing.

Neji sighed with no reply.

Kotono smiled, "Why can't she, Neji-kun?"

"…" Neji wrote his name on the girls' paper only. Not Naruto's.

"Why not me?!" Naruto exclaimed, glaring at him.

"You can't get another answer, Naruto," Asako chuckled.

The Uzumaki siblings walked into the dining room, which was only next to the living room. They spotted Kiba and Shino.

:: Targeting Friend Number 4, Kiba ::

"You again?" Asako glared at Kiba.

Kiba glared at her. "So what if it's me. I'm so going to throw juice at you someday."

"It didn't even get on you!" she glared, giving him a left kick in the knee. "It was that David who threw it your way!!"

"Ow!"

"Are you all right?" Michie asked. "Asako's aggressive, but she's really a nice girl."

Kiba growled, rubbing his knee. "Nice, eh?"

"Do you need a bandage?" Naruto asked, getting a first aid kit out of nowhere.

"It's not that serious!" Kiba glared, although the pain was throbbing.

"Are you sure?" Kotono kneeled down and poked his left knee. "It could be bleeding."

"Ow!" Kiba rolled up his jeans. "AH! It is bleeding!" he grabbed for the first aid kit.

After fixing up his small wound, he wrote his name on every one but for Asako.

"Like if I care," Asako grinned.

Naruto smiled brightly. "Yes! Now Asako and I are tied! Kotono and Michie are still in the lead!"

:: Targeting Friend Number 5, Shino ::

The four siblings looked at Shino, who seemed to have no interest. Or either they cannot read his expression behind his sunglasses.

"Will you please remove your glasses?" Michie asked, starting first.

"No."

"Are you an albino?" Asako inquired, curious.

"Do I look like I have white hair?"

Naruto crossed his arms, looking intensely at Shino. "You probably think you can attract my sisters by wearing that, huh?" he questioned.

"Never crossed my mind."

Kotono smiled. "I see. Then will you just write your name on my paper?"

Shino refused to write on any.

"Why not?" Michie asked with teary eyes.

"I'm sorry," Shino said. "I just need more time to actually become friends with you all. I hope you all understand."

"Liar," Asako grumbled.

Michie bowed. "I see what you mean. Then let's be good friends in the near future, Shino-kun."

"Let's hurry and find more people," Naruto grumbled, walking away first.

Kotono waved her hand at Kiba and Shino, leaving along with the Uzumakis.

They moved on into the next room, the Breakfast Area. No one was in there and went to the kitchen. The smell of food was in the air.

Ayaka, Hinata, and Nana were in there.

:: Targeting Friend Number 6, Ayaka ::

Naruto rubbed his chin, thinking hard to get this girl to sign her name on his.

"Are you making us dinner?" Asako asked, eyeing the material on the counters. A lot of meat and vegetables. The stove and the oven were on.

Ayaka smiled with a light nod. "That's right," she said. "Usually Nana comes and lends me a hand with the minor work."

"Is it going to be a big feast?" Naruto asked. "I want ramen!"

"I can make that for you, if you'd like some tonight," Ayaka said. Then she thought for a moment. "I haven't made ramen before but I can look it up online… Maybe tomorrow night?"

"Yay!" Naruto jumped with joy.

Michie frowned. _I wonder if it would taste better than Kotono's cooking… I miss her cooking…_ She quickly put up a smile, thinking of a question to ask just now. "What's your favorite dish?"

"Um, I really don't know."

"Do you also make breakfast and lunch?" Kotono asked.

"Nope," Ayaka gently smiled. "You get your own breakfast and lunch around here. Or either go out and eat. Dinner is the only time we get together and eat."

Ayaka wrote her name on all of theirs.

:: Targeting Friend Number 7, Nana ::

"I'm not in the mood today," Nana said, nervously smiling. "I probably won't be the only one who feels that way though."

"Oh…" the four blondes nodded awkwardly.

:: Targeting Friend Number 8, Hinata ::

"It's getting boring with simple questions," Asako said, crossing her arm with a glare. "We should ask something more personal or something."

"I don't think they will answer truthfully, Asako," Kotono said, patting on her sister's shoulder.

Asako made an expression that read: I don't care.

"Um…" Hinata shyly smiled, getting their attention. "I don't mind, really… Just as long as it's not too personal…"

Michie smiled brightly and grabbed Naruto's arm. "Don't you think our brother's cute?" she asked, giggling.

"Michi…" Naruto hissed with a light blush. Naruto smiled at Hinata. "Don't mind Michi here. She was only joking… I'm not cute at all."

"Yeah, he considers himself as handsome," Kotono gave Naruto a dry look.

Hinata smiled, nodding. "He's… okay looking… Did I say that right?"

"Why not go out with him?" Asako asked, putting her arm around Hinata's neck. "He has never got himself a girlfriend before."

"Eh?" Hinata blinked.

Naruto blushed with a glare. "Look at YOU! You don't have a boyfriend!'

"That's because I don't want any," Asako grinned. "But you… you have been yearning for one, did you not, bro?"

"Um…" Hinata looked at Asako. "I… already have someone… I… lik…"

They looked at her.

"…someone I like…" Hinata finished, blushing all over.

Ayaka and Nana smiled, knowing who he was.

"But don't tell anyone else!" Hinata pleaded.

"Who is it?" Naruto asked, only being curious.

Hinata blushed again so she looked away. "I…" she whispered. She looked at Nana, giving a cute pout. She was asking for help.

Nana laughed, going and patting on Naruto's shoulder. "That's something you shouldn't be asking, Naruto-kun!" Nana told him, grinning. "You're a guy, remember?"

The discussion ended with that and Hinata wrote her name on all four.

"What beyond this door?" Michie opened a door, north of the kitchen. It was a Breezeway and there was another door across from her. "Oh yeah, that's the changing room," she remembered the little tour from this morning.

"I want to try swimming later," Asako smiled brightly, jumping up and down. "Hey, maybe there's some people in the pool right now. Let's go and continue our hunt over there."

The four siblings agreed. They walked through the Breezeway, going through the door and walked to a corner. The dressing rooms, guys and then girls, were to their left. To their right is an open door that leads outside. They heard splashes where the pool was.

When the four blondes walked outside, the pool was right in front of them. There were about six people there.

"Stop bothering Sasuke-kun!" Sakura roared loudly at Ino. "We just came back from cram school and he needs to relax! How can he if you're always clinging onto him?!" Sakura pulled Ino away and Sasuke tiredly swims over to the college people were swimming.

"Why are you always interfering?" Ino asked, jerking away from Sakura.

Sasuke sighed tiredly, swimming away to the other side of the pool. He floated in the water beside his older brother.

Itachi smirked, "Must be tough being popular." On his other side were Deidara and then Eria.

"What, is it easy for you?" Sasuke leaned against the edge.

Eria did not wear a swimsuit; she only put her feet in the water. She noticed the new four people and waved at them. "They must be here for the game," she said, looking over at her friends.

Deidara jumped up, splashing some water at Eria. "Me first, hmm!" he called the siblings over.

"…" Eria wiped her bare arm from the cold water.

Michie smiled when she heard Deidara and walked first, but Naruto held her back. "What is it, Nii-chan?" she questioned.

"Let's do Sakura-chan first," Naruto said, smiling brightly with hope.

"But he called first," Asako said, pointing to the blond hair guy.

"I don't care," Naruto whispered.

Kotono looked over to Sakura and Ino, who were having a water fight. "So immature…" she mumbled. "Naruto, let's have them cool down first. I don't want to get wet because of them. They might get our lists wet too. Let's go over to the older people."

"Koto has a point," Michie said. She gave Naruto a puppy look. "Nii-chan, do you not care for Koto anymore…?"

Naruto sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Man… I guess it can't be help… Sorry that I forgot about your condition, Kotono."

"I'm fine," Kotono said, shrugging it off. "Let's get this done quickly."

:: Targeting Friend Number 9, Deidara ::

"So you're a college student?" Asako begin.

Deidara nodded, putting his arms over the edge. "Hmm," he smiled.

"Then do you know the name of a guy who has black hair, long-ish?" Michie asked.

Deidara looked at her, thinking to himself for a moment. "Let's see… there's Nagato… hmm," Deidara looked at Itachi. "Who else have long black hair here?"

"There's only Nagato," Eria said. "…And Itachi."

"I see!" Michie smiled brightly. She giggled and turned around to hide her funny face. "Nagato, huh?"

"How often can we swim here?" Naruto asked.

"Anytime you want," Deidara said. "Just don't do it over winter, hmm." Deidara looked over to Kotono, who stood further away from them. "Don't you want to come closer?"

Kotono smiled, "I'm fine here. Let's see… when's your birthday?"

"That's a secret, hmm," Deidara said, giving her a wink.

"Huh, why's that?" Michie asked, turning back to them.

Deidara grinned. "You're only allowed to ask one question. You can ask the others about it, hmm."

He went and sign his name on all of them, although, he hesitated on Naruto's.

:: Targeting Friend Number 10, Eria ::

"Why is it a secret?" Michie asked.

Eria kicked her legs in the water at Deidara. He swam away with a smirk. "It's not really a secret," she replied. "Tsunade and Jiraiya doesn't want us college student to celebrate our birthday, since we already done them when we were in high school."

"What, you guys have birthday parties here?" Asako questioned, eyes widen in surprised.

"Yeah," Eria nodded. "We celebrate the high school students' birthdays here. Every each one of you who live in the dorm, we will celebrate it and you have to get something for the others when their birthday come."

"What a hassle," Asako nervously smiled. "I don't even know what they all like and I'm poor."

"It can be anything," Itachi told her. "A birthday card is good enough. I wouldn't want anything big anyway."

Deidara swam back, chuckling. "Like what Oma gave you when we were second years in high school, hmm?" he asked, pointing at Itachi. "She gave you a really big…"

Itachi splashed a huge amount of water at him to keep his mouth shut, which made Kotono flinch when he did. She was glad that she stood further away from them.

"So, whose birthday is coming up?" Naruto asked. "A guy or a girl? I need to know so I can get something ready before the time comes."

"You'll forget anyway," Asako cracked a laugh.

Eria glanced at the sky, thinking. "I remember Jiraiya saying David's birthday is on the twenty-seventh this month," she said.

"We have two weeks," Naruto nodded to himself.

"Wow, you're that serious?" Michie giggled.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at his smiling sisters. "If I don't, how will I get a better present in return?" he grinned.

"Oh, that's it?" Sasuke mumbled loudly.

"What if we want to give one of the college student presents anyway?" Kotono inquired.

Eria smiled, "You can. Tsunade and Jiraiya always arrange parties too, but only for the high school students. For the older students, we can still do it if we want. Depends on the people who is willing to help out."

The four handed their paper to her and she signed on all of them.

:: Targeting Friend Number 11, Itachi ::

Michie giggled, remembering a question she asked Neji earlier. "Can I say I like your eyes?" she asked.

Itachi slightly nodded.

Asako blinked. "…She can?"

He nodded again.

"Why's that?" Kotono questioned.

He shrugged.

Naruto looked at Itachi's long hair. He wanted to ask about it, but he does not want to offend him like he did with Neji. Naruto looked at Sasuke and back at Itachi. "Are you two related?" he asked.

Itachi nodded.

"That didn't take very long," Asako said.

"Dry your hands before signing," Kotono told Itachi, handing him a towel that was nearby.

Itachi quickly dry his hands and quickly wrote this name down on all of theirs.

:: Targeting Friend Number 12, Sasuke ::

"He's cute," Michie chirped, giggling happily. "So, are you like your brother?"

Sasuke glanced at her. "Not really," he replied with a light glare.

"Can't you give her a nicer expression?" Asako glared. "Stupid guy. I don't see anything cute about you."

Sasuke gave a little pout with another light glare.

Kotono rubbed her chin, looking at Sasuke intensely.

Naruto crossed his arms, glaring at Sasuke. "Sakura-chan… do you like her?" he asked, pointing at the pink haired girl.

Sasuke shot a glare at Naruto. Sakura and Ino both stop playing with the water and stared where the others were.

Asako lightly punched her brother in the stomach. "You're asking another personal question again, Naruto!" she whispered loudly. "It's something you shouldn't be asking! At this rate, you'll become last in this game!"

"I need to know so I can get a chance," Naruto said, explaining his situation.

"Never in your life!" Sakura shouted over to them.

Deidara chuckled. "You'll never stand a chance against Sasuke, new guy," he grinned.

Kotono bent her knees and smiled at Sasuke. "Can we be friends?" she questioned.

Sasuke quietly stared at her and then at the other siblings. "All right, let me sign yours and yours," he said, pointing at Michie and Kotono.

Naruto and Asako both crossed their arms, not caring.

"Dry your hands first," Kotono reminded.

:: Targeting Friend Number 13, Sakura ::

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto hurried to her.

"Time's up!" Rai appeared right in front of Naruto.

He stopped and looked up at her. "…Hah?" He does not recognize her from school but seemed like she was around his age.

She took out a silver pocket watch and showed him the time. "It's almost time for dinner," she smiled.


	6. At The Dinner Table

Narrative

"Talking"

_Thinking_

"_Speaking in another language_"

* * *

**Chapter 6 – At the Dinner Table**

Date: Monday, April 13

The Uzumaki siblings gathered in the family room. Both Tsunade and Jiraiya were sitting on the sofas, looking through the lists of friends that the four teenagers had made.

"Hey, we have a tie," Jiraiya said, flapping Kotono and Michie's list.

Michie smiled brightly and grabbed Kotono's hands. "We rock!" she laughed.

Naruto crossed his arms, sulking a little. "We should have talked to Sakura-chan first," he mumbled.

"We can't have two winners," Tsunade said, laying down the other two lists down on the coffee table. "We'll have to set up another game for you two."

"Aw…" Michie whined, pouting. "Why can't we have two winners?"

"We try not to grant too many wishes around here," Tsunade said, standing. She grinned. "I'll talk about the next game with Jiraiya during dinner. Let's talk about the rules for the sitting arrangements in the dining room."

Asako gasped. "Assigned seats in the dining room?!"

"Yeah," Jiraiya smiled, getting up and following Tsunade.

The siblings followed the couple into the living room and then the next room where the voices were coming from.

There were six tables in the dining room, eight seats in each. The food was already served and people of the dorm were already sitting and eating. There was one table that was empty though, the other four tables had one seat open, and one of the other was full.

"I'm not sitting by any boys!" Asako shouted in the room and her voice echoed.

Everyone turned to the new transfers and the old couple.

"Hello!" Michie waved. "I'm Michie! This is Kotono, this is Asako, and this is our awesome brother, Naruto nii-chan!"

"Hey," a few of them said, waving a little.

"Hi, Naruto!" Matsuo stood up, waving like crazy. She almost hit Ino who sat beside her.

Tsunade turned to the Uzumakis. "Alright, Naruto, you sit at table number two. You're going to sit over there by Matsuo. You two have the same class so you should know her, right?"

"I think so…" Naruto rubbed the back of his head. He looked at his assigned table. Sakura was not sitting there.

Jiraiya gestured to the table to their right in front of them. "You sit there, Asako," he said. "That's table five."

Asako glared at some boy's back. She did not want to sit by him.

"She's glaring intensely at you, Neji…" Hiita smiled, taking a sip of her water in a blue cup. She's sitting across from the empty seat that Asako would be sitting in soon.

Neji paid no attention and scooped his chicken noodle soup.

Michie bit on her nails, looking at Nagato. His table was already filled with people. "Too bad…" she murmured.

"As for Michie," Tsunade patted on her head. "You'll be sitting the left side of this table, number six. Between Tenten and Yahiko."

She nodded, "Okay."

"I guess I take the only table that's left," Kotono said, getting her music ready. She'll be sitting in front of Deidara. Right now he was sprinkling some water at the person next to him, Zetsu. _Will I be all right sitting there?_ She asked herself, half smiling.

"Now, go to your seats," Jiraiya pushed them forward. The four of them went to their assigned seats. The old couple went to sit at the empty table.

"I don't think we were properly introduced yet," Matsuo smiled at Naruto when he sat down beside her. "I'm Matsuo! While we're at it, let's introduce ourselves, everyone!"

Ino smiled, "I'm Ino."

"Nana here!" she stood up so Naruto can see her.

"My name is David," he said. _He's Asako's brother…_ He thought, looking at Naruto with curious eyes.

"…Gaara."

"You can call me Hidan," he smirked. "You should pray before eating, Naruto-kun."

"And I'm Lee!"

Naruto smiled brightly. He felt welcomed and laughed. "It probably won't be so bad being here after all!" he said. Then he quickly grabbed his spoon and begun to chow down.

"Hello, friend," Deidara smiled across the table at Kotono. "I hope you'll enjoy your time here, hmm."

Kotono had her headphones on.

Everyone at the table silently stared at her for a moment. Kotono quickly gave them a smile before eating.

"Did she get to you in the game earlier?" Sai questioned Deidara.

He nodded. "I signed on the all of the Uzumakis' lists."

"She got to Hinata and I too," Ayaka said, smiling. She leaned on her palm. "Nana was there, but she wasn't in the mood, or so she says."

"Too bad," Zetsu said. "I was in the Study Room with Tobi and Kakuzu."

Wynn smiled, "You should have been out in the open then."

Shino and Hinata did not join in their conversation as the group continued to chat.

Asako sighed heavily, looking at ground to her right. The left side of her felt disgustedly warm so she sat on the edge of the chair.

"Aren't you hungry?" Konan inquired, holding her fork with noodles.

"Can we switch seats around the table?" Asako asked looking at her. "We can do that, right?"

"Nope," Kakuzu said.

Aussa played with her food, looking depress.

"What's wrong with you?" Kisame asked, realizing she was not eating either. He could clearly see her expression since she was across from him.

She just pouted.

Kiba drank his water and put it down on the table. "She probably can't find any cheat codes for her new video game."

"How did you guess?" she eyed him with tired eyes, which caused him to back away. "But I'll find a way to break through it! Just you watch!" She pointed at Kiba, glaring. "I won't give up that easily!"

As Aussa went on about it, Neji felt Asako looking at the corner of her eyes, glaring again. He turned to her. "What is your problem?" he questioned, glaring back.

"Better watch out if she throws anything at you," Hiita said, taking a sip of her water again.

Asako grinned evilly, leaning closer to him. "Do you really want to know?" she asked. "It'll take the whole night to tell you my problem."

"Tch," he looked away, continuing his meal.

Asako quickly moved back on the edge of her seat and started to eat.

"Anyone here knows Nagato personally?" Michie smiled with hope.

"Yahiko there is his childhood friend," Choji pointed out. He hurried and stuffed his mouth with the food on his plate.

She turned to him. "Is that true?" she asked.

Yahiko smiled. "Yep. I remember seeing you with him earlier today. Is there something you wanted to know?"

Temari quietly tasted her tomato soup, thinking about something. Tenten smiled and asked, "What's wrong?"

"…Just wondering what kind of game we're playing next Sunday," she replied. "Gaara said some negative stuff about it when Kankuro and I moved in. I'm really curious about it."

Itachi and Tobi both smiled.

"It _must_ be horrible," Kankuro said, noticing the two college students' smile of mischievous.

"Here, have some of these, Sasori-kun," Oma smiled, giving him chicken wings. "You gotta love meat!"

Sasori silently looked at the chicken wings, his spoon in midair.

"Or did you want me to feed you…?" she asked, leaning against him with her arm.

"I'm fine," he said, poking it with his fork in his other hand.

Eria sighed and looked at Sasuke and Sakura across the table. They were doing the same thing as Oma and Sasori but with peas. Eria eyed to her left. Across the little pathway to table four, Deidara was sprinkling water at her. "What are you doing?" she asked.

He smirked, "Kotono didn't let me do this to her… so I looked around and you were closer, hmm."

"Just try not to cause a food fight," Shikamaru said. Although he sat two seats from Deidara and with Oma and Sakura bothering Sasori and Sasuke, Shikamaru could hear him. "It would be troublesome if one starts."

"Eria's not the type to throw anything back," Rai said, thinking out loud. "Right, Nagato?"

He did not say. He was not sure.

"You may never know," Eria said, getting back to her dish. After grabbing a spoonful of diced pork, she grabbed her cup that was filled with water and ice.

"Hmm, no way," Deidara smirked. He got up and took a step to her table. He grabbed her cup from her hand and drank it.

"Are you trying to get me pissed?" she asked, staring up at him with a dull expression. "Get your own water, dumbass."

"Deidara!" Tsunade shouted angrily. She hit the table, where she was sitting at, with her fist. "Get back to your table!"

Jiraiya flattened his expression at his wife. "Anyway…" he waved to get her attention. They were in the middle of a conversation. "Should we let Oma handle the game for Michie and Kotono?"

Tsunade turned her head sharply at him, still a bit upset about Deidara but she can let it go after a few minutes. She nodded in reply. "Yeah, we'll let her think of one," she said, pouring wine into her little cup in her hand. "She is our daughter after all, but I want to do something else today… or tomorrow. So Michie and Kotono's game will have to wait."

"Game?" he blinked. "The one we missed when the new kids didn't come in time for?"

"Yeah," she smirked. "I can't let everyone miss one. I'll announce it after everyone's done eating. The dishes will have to be wash before we start the game."

Jiraiya grinned with a sigh. "If that's what you want," he said, shrugging.

Nana overheard the old couple's conversation and smiled brightly. Lee also heard it too and the two of them exchanged smiles. They hoped it would a challenging game.

Time passed and everyone was pretty much done eating. Gaara stood up from this seat to leave.

"Gaara!" Tsunade called. "Sorry, but you'll have to stay. I have something to say to everyone."

He did not argue and went back to sit by David, across from Naruto.

"What is she up to now?" Kakuzu wondered out loud, leaning on his palm.

Kisame smirked, "I bet I can guess…"

"I was just about to leave too," Aussa said, pouting. She was almost done eating and planned to play her video game right away. She had it all planned out for the whole night.

Not too long after that, everyone was done. At table two, Matsuo did the dishes for her table and David helped. At table three, Oma and Sasuke did the group's dishes. At table four, Wynn and Shino. At number five, Konan and Neji. Then at number six, Kankuro and Michie. Each group took turns doing their dishes in the kitchen. As for table one, it was Jiraiya's turn to do table one's dishes.

"Why do we have to do the dishes for?" Naruto questioned. "Is it one of the rules here too?"

"Yep," Lee nodded. "Tomorrow night will be you and Gaara. The night after that would be Nana and me. Then Ino and Hidan and it starts all over again. Same goes with the other people."

"Oh, I see," Naruto nodded.

Matsuo grinned. "I had to do it twice before you came Naruto. I volunteered, actually. You know, because there was no one sitting across Gaara and he would have done the dishes by himself. I helped him until you were here."

Naruto smiled brightly. "Hey, thanks. That's nice of you!"

"Sorry, but I can't do dishes with you the next time it's our turn," Kotono said, letting him know first hand. They were also talking about the rules about dishes every night.

"What do you mean?" Deidara asked, confused.

Kotono wanted to put her headphones back on really bad, but Tsunade told her to keep it off until they head off to bed. "I'm allergic to water," she told him. "One drop gets my skin crazy so…"

"Holy shit, you are?" he questioned, totally surprised.

"It's true," Ayaka nodded. "So please don't make her do the dishes. I have talked to Tsunade and she already knows about it. About everyone should know by now."

Deidara frowned, "Then am I supposed to do it alone? Any one want to help me…?"

"We'll think about it," they all replied, but for Hinata.

"Sorry," Kotono said again, smiling nervously. "Oh, but I can use plastic gloves for a few minutes before my hands get sweaty. I can still help you a little bit."

After all the dishes were done, everyone looked at Tsunade, who stood on top of table one to get a good view of them. "All right, everyone!" she smiled, putting her hands on her hips. "We're going to play a game that we have missed this week! It's only once a month, but I prefer to do it now."

"…WHAT?" a few asked, which was Hidan, Kakuzu, and Shikamaru.

"Oh, oh! Me, me!" Michie chirped cheerfully, raising her hand in the air. "There's a game that I always wanted to play! Can I give a suggestion?"

Asako and Naruto gasped loudly. "Hell no!" Asako turned in her chair, stomping on the ground. "We're NOT doing that here, Michie!"

"No, we should!" Naruto nodded in agreement.

Tsunade smiled. "What do you suggest, my little Michie? Neji, hold Asako down."

Asako was just about to get up to stop Michie from talking, but Neji swiftly grabbed her shoulder and kept her down on her seat. He was surprised that he actually listened to Tsunade and his body quickly responded to it. Or perhaps he knew how brutal this Asako girl was and wanted to prevent anything from happening.

"Seven-" Michi begun, but then Asako screamed loudly.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. She wanted her voice to cover up Michie's so no one could hear her.

"Neji!" Tsunade glared at him.

"Tsk…" he covered Asako's mouth.

Asako bit his hand and stomped on his feet. He let her go and she got up.

Kotono turned her head with a frown. "Rules, RULES!" she reminded her sister. "Remember what mother told us?"

"…Uh," Asako paused. She blanked out and slowly sat back down. "Fine… fine, fine, fine."

Neji rubbed his hand where she had bitten him. It seemed like she was not going to apologize either. _What an annoying girl…_ he thought bitterly.

"It's called Seven Minutes in Heaven," Michie smiled. She was a bit nervous though, since Asako hated this game so much.

"Oh, I think I heard of that before," Ino said, excited. "Something to do with kissing!"

"The rules…?" Temari inquired.

"Seven minutes in heaven is a kissing game in which two people are selected," Kotono explained. "Usually randomly selected, participants enter a closet, room or similarly dark private area for a specified period of time, traditionally seven minutes."

"Oh, another kissing game?" Sasori frowned. He could feel Oma's eyes gleaming with hope on him.

"At the start of the game, one person is to be God," Michie said. "He or she then picks two other participants to be sent to 'Heaven,' the closet or private area, or just one to accompany him or her if it is his or her turn. The participant who is God can choose whom he or she wants to send to 'heaven,' or can pick a name at random, usually from a hat."

"Hey, sounds fun," Sakura clapped her hands, getting all energized.

Jiraiya liked the idea and looked at Tsunade. "I say we go with that," he said.

"We'll play it tomorrow before dinner," Tsunade decided with a smile. "So don't try to run out on this one. If someone does, with an excuse or not, I'll have someone hunt you down and bring you back here."


	7. Three Minutes In Heaven?

Narrative

"Talking"

_Thinking_

"_Speaking in another language_"

* * *

**Chapter 7 – Three Minutes In Heaven?**

Date: Tuesday, April 14

It was still the same night and David was doing some last minute cleaning in one of the weight rooms. It was his turn today but had not finished cleaning because a lot was happening today.

"Everyone are probably in bed," he mumbled tiredly, rubbing his eyes.

He closed the door and wondered through the hall, to the family room, and then up the stairs. All the lights were off, but he could tell where he was going. He reached to the second floor and then down the hall. In front of him was the boy's bathroom. Sasuke walked out and looked at David.

"Hey," David said.

Sasuke paused but nodded.

They walked pass the girl's bathroom, their room were just right down that hall. Sasuke opened the door to their room and he turned on the lights.

Naruto was sleeping on his bed. His blanket was on the floor. His figure was disturbing but that was not just all of it. Sasuke and David's belongs were pushed off to the right side of the room. Naruto's posters of ninjas were all on fours walls, and his manga books were all lying on the left side of the room. Naruto probably moved in and alter their room while the two were still in cram school.

"This guy…" Sasuke's eyes twitched, a vein appearing over his head.

"The new guy's pretty childish," David said, nodding to himself. "He has cute bears on his pajamas."

"That's not the point here," Sasuke grumbled.

[…]

Hiita, Sasuke, Sakura, Sai, Neji, and David walked together from the cram school. Now they were heading back to the dorm, where the game was waiting for them.

"Now that everyone is here, let's begin the rules!" Tsunade said as the 'smart' student walked in the dorm.

They were all in the family room. Some were not looking forward to this and some were.

"First off!" Tsunade dropped two brown bags on the coffee table. "The old man and I decided to adjust the rules of Seven Minutes in Heaven."

"What?" Michie said, surprised.

Tsunade smirked. "You know, since there are a lot of people here… we can't do seven minutes per couple. It'll take the whole night, so it's going to be three minutes, which would take an hour and six minutes."

"That's about twenty-two pairs," Shikamaru said, tired.

"Wow, that's fast math," Matsuo said, chuckling.

"Twenty-two pairs?" Tobi asked. "There are more guys than girls, aren't there? You know since there are only twenty-two guys here…?"

"Let me explain first!" Tsunade said, giving them an irritated look. "Although, that's about right. Jiraiya and I will be drawing one piece of paper from each bag. One bag full of girls' names and the other are the boys. Here, I'll show an example. Jiraiya, draw one from the boy's bag."

Jiraiya was sitting on a sofa. He leaned forward and grabbed the boy's bag and drew a name. "…Kiba," he said.

Tsunade drew one from the other bag. "Okay, I have Hiita's name," she smiled. "Those two will have to get into the bathroom right there and do whatever they want. It's not like I can go in and make them kiss, right? So, everyone got the simple rules?"

"Wait, twenty-two pairs," Tobi raised his hands. "Does that mean that there will be four girls who will have to go twice?"

"That's what we decided," Jiraiya smirked.

"Oh, who'll be the lucky girls," Oma giggled. She was standing right by Sasori and grabbed his arm. "I hope fate will be on our side!"

Sasori slowly turned his head the other way and looked at Deidara. "Let's hope it continues not to," he said.

"How mean!" she glared, tightening her grip on his arm. "Even during the spin the bottle games! We never kissed! …Oh, I know! You probably wish for it not to happen sooooo bad, huh? That's the reason why we were never picked together!"

"Yeah, that must be it," he said, not looking at her.

"Let's get started!" Naruto said, getting all fired up. His hands turned into fists. "Our first game!"

All the high school students were close by the fireplace and the older ones were near the south side of the room. Jiraiya and Tsunade put Kiba's and Hiita's name back into their bag. They both shook it to shuffle the names and grabbed one.

"Ino," Tsunade said.

"Please let me get Sasuke…!" she whispered out loud. She even had her hands in praying mode.

Jiraiya smiled, "Nagato."

"Nooooo!!" Michie screamed at the top of her lungs. She was standing in the middle of Asako and Kotono, who covered their ears when she screamed. Everyone else stared at her in the room.

"Damn," Ino snapped her fingers. There was still another chance though. The only hope now was to wish for Sasuke get his name picked until the end and then hers. "Okay, let's go into the bathroom and do nothing for three minutes…" She walked off into the bathroom first.

Nagato hesitated, but followed her after a moment.

Michie sniffed and grabbed Asako's arm. "I won't get a chance to be alone with him now…" she whined.

Asako smirked and patted on her head. "That's a good thing, my _dear_ sister, hehe," she snickered.

"…" Kotono tapped her chin, thinking who would be next. Seeing everyone's expression would be really interesting.

"I can't believe we're really doing this," Kankuro mumbled close to his siblings.

Temari smirked, "Sounds pretty fun to me."

"Can I go and get a snack?" Choji asked, looking at Tsunade and Jiraiya.

"Everyone gets only a minute to wander around each time a couple goes into the bathroom," Jiraiya said. "So don't take long."

Inside the bathroom, Ino and Nagato kept their distance. "Hey…" Ino started after a couple minutes of silence. "High school students can't have relationships with college students, right?"

He glanced at her. "Why?"

"Well," she grinned. "Michie-san, was it? It seems like she has a crush on you. She practically screamed when your name was called."

"…" He looked at the ground.

"You think she's going to confess to you someday?" she questioned, snickering.

"Hey, time's up!" Jiraiya called.

Ino quickly opened the door and walked out as Nagato followed. They went back to their spots as Jiraiya and Tsunade started to pick another name.

"I guess nothing happened between them," Michie sighed in relief.

"Next is Tobi," Jiraiya said, putting the piece of paper aside. He looked over to Tsunade who looked at her paper.

"Ayaka," she read out loud.

Ayaka stared into space.

Tobi smiled, "Yeah!!" He quickly ran over to her and grabbed her hand. Then he started to skip towards the bathroom, dragging her along.

As the bathroom closed, Kiba nudged Shino's arm. "Too bad, huh?" Kiba grinned.

Shino just remained silent.

Tobi practically danced in the middle of the bathroom happily. Ayaka could not help but laugh at the childish college student. She watched him in happiness as he continued to dance. But suddenly he had stopped, still with the same smile. "Let's just dance away the minutes!!" He suggested.

Ayaka nodded happily. She knew Tobi was always a gentleman. Tobi joyfully grabbed her hands and they both danced happily but slowly to the imaginary music in their heads. Tobi happened to hum quietly to the music in his head and Ayaka danced to his song instead, always keeping a soft smile on her face.

"I wonder what would have happened if Shino got picked with you instead." Tobi thought out loud in a mischievous manner, making Ayaka blush softly as she remained silent. This caused Tobi to laugh as they danced away.

"I wonder who does the laundry around here," Asako thought out loud. "Do we do our own laundry here or something?"

"Of course," Sakura nodded, looking her way. "You know, down the basement."

"I see…" Asako smirked. She looked at David's school uniform. Yesterday he had a stain of mac and cheese on it but it seemed like he managed to clean it off.

He looked back at Asako with a flat face.

Ayaka and Tobi returned laughing and happy, causing others to raise their eyebrows at the duo. The two of them, although raised suspicion, sat down and two new names quickly were drawn.

"Oma," Tsunade read out loud.

"And Kakuzu," Jiraiya said.

"Geez, dad," Oma pouted. "Couldn't you cheat a little bit?" Her father shrugged with a smirk as Kakuzu entered the bathroom to get it over with. "Oh well…" she hurried to the bathroom and closed it.

Sasori sighed in relief.

"I CAN HEAR THAT," Oma called from the bathroom.

Deidara chuckled and Sasori sighed again.

"Wait, Oma-san," Kakuzu's voice was heard. "I rather not…"

"Come on!" she said. "This is only a game. Don't tell me this is going to be your first time, Kakuzu-chan!"

Everyone in the family sweat dropped as the two were struggling in the bathroom.

"Who would want a girl like her anyway?" Sasori quietly talked to himself.

Deidara leaned against him. "Itachi went out with her for two months back in high school. Why don't you ask him what he saw in her, hmm?"

"Yeah, but she ended up dumping him anyway," Sasori said, still talking quietly. "She always does that… even if she went out with Itachi a little longer than usual."

Itachi frowned, "Please drop the topic. Everyone can hear you two."

Time was up and Oma opened the door, licking her lips. She smiled in satisfactory and walked back to stand by her mother. Kakuzu walked out slowly, wiping his mouth with his hand and headed to Hidan and Zetsu. Hidan snickered, patting his friend's back.

It was Konan and Sai were next and the two of them went into the bathroom. Nothing was happening though. There was no noise.

"Go for it, Sai!" Matsuo cheered loudly. But nothing still happened, except for the slam of the bathroom door caused by Sai's fist.

Next up were Tenten and Kankuro. There was still no sound so they probably did not do anything either. Sasori and Temari was nest but nothing interesting had turned up with them either.

"Yahiko…" Jiraiya said.

"And Eria," Tsunade smiled.

The two went into bathroom with silence. "So…" Eria bobbed her head slowly. "Did you expect something…?"

"Well, _they_ are," Yahiko shrugged his shoulders, "Make it quick then. I kiss your forehead, you kiss mines." He went first, and did it fast with a peck on her forehead.

"You're fast," Eria did it slightly, sort of unwillingly. She stood quietly for a while.

Hidan pounded on the door and the two jumped. "How long are you guys going to kiss in there?! Get out! It's Kisame and Asako's turn!!"

"No, I don't wanna!" Asako shouted angrily. She was being dragged by Kisame, who wanted to get it over with.

Yahiko sighed in disappointment. "You owe me," he said.

Eria smirked, "We'll see."

When they got out of the bathroom, Kisame threw Asako in. She glared at him and went to her fighting pose. "I'll give you a black eye if you touch me!" she warned.

"I'm not doing anything," he said. "I just want this game to be over with so I can do my own stuff."

"Heh, like I'll fall for that," she glared.

A few minutes had passed and Asako quickly ran out.

"Okay, let's see," Jiraiya drew a paper. "It's Sasuke."

"And Nana," Tsunade said.

"Whatever." Nana sighed as she got up first and walked into the bathroom. Sasuke silently followed as the two of them stood in the bathroom for a couple of minutes without saying anything. Nana looked over at Sasuke, crossing her arms with a smirk.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

Nana smiled brightly, "Nothing. You're nothing like your brother."

Sasuke scoffed. "I try not to be." He looked up at Nana who had crossed her legs now. "And you're nothing like the other girls although you being so girly for the most parts."

Nana chuckled, standing up when she heard people coming to get them. "I try not to be." Right when she passed Sasuke and she knew he was walking behind her, she flicked her head around and pecked him a kiss on his cheeks. Sasuke blushed heavily as she winked at him. "That's for my bragging rights. Every girl at school will be _jealous_." She laughed evilly as Sasuke glared at her back.

The next couple was Shikamaru and Hinata. No one expected anything to happen to the two of them so the next couple that was called were Wynn and Neji.

"Are you interested in these kinds of stuff?" Wynn asked, sitting on the toilet. "Because I'd like to think not. It'd be weird."

"I don't know. I could care less about it." He answered.

"Uh huh…if you could care less about it, I guess in a way you do then." He gave her a look, and she backed off. "Okay, okay. I got you." The two waited for the time to pass. Wynn then turned to him with a smile, "So did you want to kiss one of the three new girls?"

"Ngh…" He closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on not hearing her voice. Wynn giggled, liking that fact that she was annoying him. After that, the two got out.

Kotono and Deidara got in. "Hey, wanna kiss, hmm?" he asked.

She looked up at him. He was standing closely. "It would be the fifth time I kiss a guy," she said.

"You kissed before?" he blinked. "Damn, I thought I would be your first, hmm."

She smiled, "Too bad. So, should I kiss on your cheek?"

"Sure, not that it matters," he shrugged. The two exchanged kisses on the cheek.

Next up were Itachi and Rai. As they both slowly walked towards the bathroom, they decided to talk about college work and homework, rather happily and calmly too. They acted as if they weren't going to kiss at all in the bathroom. And that made everyone sweat drop at the two people.

"Did you understand the physics of the brain for our Psychology class?" Rai questioned.

Itachi nodded. "It wasn't difficult."

Rai smiled brightly as she turned away from Itachi with a gleaming face, walking further into the bathroom, "I agree completely. It made me angry when people were saying they did not understand what the Professor was saying at all!" She punched her fist in the air, but Itachi had been standing right behind her and her fist had met his face.

Rai had screamed loudly, causing for the people outside of the bathroom to jump and making them sweat drop at the sudden rowdy scene. Hidan had stood up instantly from his seat in a fist angry, "What the hell is that Itachi doing to Rai?"

Kazuku pulled on Hidan's shirt, forcing him to sit down, "Be quiet and let them be in heaven." Kazuku chuckled, "Any girl with Itachi is a lucky girl." Hidan flushed red completely and crossed his arms like a child.

Rai helped Iatchi up, bowing her head deeply, "I'm so sorry!" She continued to apologize as she tried to check his cheeks if she had bruised it or not. "Let me see your face!" He moved his hands for her to see the wound, but Rai smiled brightly when there wasn't any wound. "Phew!" She giggled. "No bruise."

Itachi chuckled softly. "But that hurt like hell." He admitted, making Rai chuckled softly and embarrassingly.

"I'm sorry."

Itachi shook her head. "I don't want a sorry."

Rai looked dumbfounded. "What?"

Itachi pointed to his cheek, where she had hit him in the face, "I want a kiss to make it better."

Rai giggled, giving Itachi a pouting look. But seeing his hinting puppy eyes she given up. "Fine." She kissed him lightly on the cheeks, petting him on his head. "Now, are you all better?"

He nodded with a soft smile. "Yes." And just then time was up and the door opened.

Just as they both walked out of the bathroom, Hidan grabbed Rai's by the shoulders and shook her. "Are you all right?"

Rai looked up at Hidan with a curious face before turning into a small smile, "Yes. I am."

Itachi had grabbed Rai's hand and pecked it on top, "Thank you for your time." He smirked when he saw Hidan's completely shocked face. Itachi sat down next to his brother, who gave Itachi a creeped out face. Itachi could easily read Sasuke's mind, it was saying _'what was that for?_' Itachi chuckled and poked at Sasuke's forehead, "Just so I could see Hidan's angry face." He answered softly. Itachi looked up at Hidan who was obsessively rubbing Rai's hand that Itachi had kissed on to rub off the germs Itachi had left behind.

Tsunade soon got Rai and Hidan to sit back down at their seats without trouble. And she drew a piece of paper again to continue the game. "Michie," she said.

"And… uh," Jiraiya's eyes popped out. "…Naruto."

"What?!" Michie and Naruto both jumped in shock.

"Hurry and get in there," Tobi cheered.

The two siblings mumbled quietly and went into the bathroom. After a few minutes, they mumbled, walking back out.

Matsuo and Choji were next. The only things they could hear from Matsuo and Choji was fighting and crashing of items. By the time they came out, Tsunade checked out the bathroom, it wasn't a total wreck, but a couple of things had fallen off the walls and a couple of broken mirrors. Matsuo bowed to Choji and the both of them agreed to fight once again soon.

Hiita and Gaara were called and they both went into the bathroom. Nothing happened for sure. The next ones were Sakura and Shino. There was another silence in the bathroom. The next ones were Aussa and Hidan.

The two walked in the bathroom, Aussa looking dead tired. She mumbled a few things, then slammed the toilet. A 'BAM' was heard, and everyone was wondering what was happening. "I can't believe that we're spending about an hour on this."

"Why do you care so much?" Hidan asked, seeing that Aussa wasn't hurt from the kick that she just did.

"I have other thing planned…" She said snappishly, "And my schedule is FULL because of THIS. I have cheats to look for!"

"You…weirdo…" Hidan said. He looked at her baggy eyes. "Don't tell me—"

"That I stayed up all night looking for cheats and never fell asleep?" Aussa finished the sentence for him, "Hah, that's right. I even spent the whole day to think of new ways to look for them. _This _time…I will make sure I will get—" Hidan pushed her out of the bathroom.

"Keep it to yourself!" He shouted, and everyone saw the two. "I don't want to hear you ranting about cheating. You're so creepy when you're tired."

"Hidan! What are you doing?!" Tsunade demanded.

"Lady, have you not noticed her damn baggy eyes?!" Hidan grabbed Aussa's chin to show everyone, "She's a game freak, and is probably willing to stay up for days."

"Even if I die, I shall look for them as a ghost. Ahahahahaha…" She laughed to herself like a maniac. "Everything…for IT."

"Go on with the game, it's best that way," Kiba suggested.

Tsunade smiled, "Hidan, it's only going to be a few minutes. It's not like you're a cheat code and she's going to eat you up, right?"

Hidan pouted. He grabbed his prayer beads and started to mumble as they went back into the bathroom.

Time quietly passed as Tsunade put all the female names back into the bag. Eria and Lee's names were picked and then Tenten and Zetsu. Michie and David were next, but nothing happened to them either. The last ones were Matsuo and Kiba. Yet again their was crashing and fighting sounds coming from the bathroom, and this time a lot of loud laughter coming not only from Kiba but also Matsuo. They both got out the bathroom as if they were best friends that had not seen each other for a long time.

"Alright, that's a wrap up!" Tsunade smirked.

As soon as she said that, everyone shattered to go and do his or her own things.


	8. The Top Guys and Girls in School

Narrative

"Talking"

_Thinking_

"_Speaking in another language_"

* * *

**Chapter 8 – The Top Guys and Girls in School**

Date: Saturday, April 18

"The top four cute slash hot guys in school?" Michie questioned.

It was already the end of the second week of school and Michie was in her classroom with Hinata, Ayaka, and Wynn. The school bell has not rung yet so everyone was sitting in random seats, chatting with other people.

Wynn nodded. "Yeah. Some group of girls wanted to prove 'something' so they're asking all the girls in school to make a vote. We're supposed to write a boy's name on these pieces of paper." She dropped a bundle of small papers on the desk. "Even all the boys in school are doing the same for the top four girls."

Michie smiled brightly and grabbed one. She took a pen out and quickly wrote Gaara's name down. She kissed the paper and giggled. "Good luck, Gaara-sama! I'm sorry Nagato!"

"Um…" Ayaka thought for a moment. "Alright then, Kiba it is." She wrote down his name without being shy about it.

Hinata nervously struggled to write a boy's name. "Uh… um…" she blushed.

"Hmm…" Wynn tapped her pencil on the desk. She grinned and decided to write David's name.

"What's wrong, Hinata?" Michie asked. She leaned to take a look at whose name she wrote, but she had only wrote the letter S. "Were you going to write Sasuke?"

"N-no, of course not," she quietly said. She covered the paper and wrote on the paper. She folded it and handed it to Wynn. "Please don't let anyone see it."

"Not Sasuke?" Michie rubbed her chin. "Then it would be either Shikamaru, Shino, or Sai, right? Sai's a little cuter than Shikamaru and Shino, it could be Sai."

Hinata shook her head. "No, please don't guess it, Michie!"

Kiba, Shino, and Kankuro quietly sat at their own desk, wondering which girl they should write down.

[…]

"The hell?" Asako held a piece of paper. Her eyes were in shock and disgust. "Top four guys? Who's idea was that?! This is stupid!"

"Just write a random guy then," Temari snickered. "I'm going to write Shikamaru's…"

Ino and Nana were with the two of them in the corner of the room. "If you're not going to choose, then write Sasuke's," Ino smiled brightly.

"No, write Kankuro's!" Nana said, leaning closer to Asako. "Although, I'm going to write Sai's name."

Asako sighed, rubbing the back of her head. She smiled and scribbled Choji's name. "I'm done," she said, folding it and handing it to a random girl who was collecting them.

"Hey," Shikamaru looked at Choji and David. "Are you two seriously going to write on those things?"

"Yeah," Choji nodded. "We're supposed to, aren't we?"

"It's so troublesome…" Shikamaru grumbled. He turned to David, who was slightly blushing. "And what's up with you, David?"

"Huh?" he blinked, looking at his two friends. "Oh, it's nothing…" he looked down at the piece of paper.

[…]

"Sa-suke-kun…" Kotono quietly said as she wrote his name on the paper.

Hiita snickered, "Sasuke's going to win for sure. I can hear almost every girl mumbling his name as they write."

"Sasuke, huh?" Tenten sighed. "I agree, he's going to be the first. Maybe I should write someone else's name. Like, give them a chance to be popular."

"Let's both write Neji's," Hiita said. "I'm sure he'll get one of the top four."

Tenten smiled, "Okay. He is good looking after all."

Neji and Lee were sitting close to them so they heard. Lee smiled at Neji, "I wish you luck, Neji."

He narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, right. Who are you going to choose, Lee?"

"Sakura-chan, of course!" he grinned.

Gaara stared at his piece of paper at his assigned seat. He had no idea who to vote for.

[…]

Matsuo laughed among the guys and girls from the dorm. They were in classroom 1-A. "Hey, Sasuke," she begin. "I'm going to write your name down, okay?"

"I don't care," he said, leaning on this palm. They were all sitting close to each other to discuss about this top girls and guys.

Aussa quickly thought to herself for a moment.

"I'm going to put Sasuke down too," Sakura smiled, writing his name right away.

Naruto sighed. "What's so great about him again?"

Sai looked at Matsuo who wrote down Sasuke's name with a wide grin. "I didn't know you like Sasuke too, Matsuo," Sai said.

"As a friend, yeah?" she shrugged. "We've known each other since middle school after all."

Sai turned his head the other way with a small pout on his face, "We've known since middle school too."

Matsuo laughed, making Sai turn to her, "And also, just to make fun of Sasuke by voting for him." She stuck her tongue at Sai although she did not hear what he had said.

"Okay, I'm going to vote for Sasuke too," Aussa decided with a bright smile.

Naruto wrote down Sakura's name and showed to her. "I wrote down yours, Sakura-chan!" he said.

"Ah…" She paused and quickly smiled. "I figured," she said. She turned to Sasuke, who had already folded his paper and gave it to a random boy who was collecting the pieces of paper from the guys. "Eh, wait, Sasuke! Who did you choose?"

"Some girl," he replied.

"But who?" she asked again.

"That's a secret," he said, avoiding eye contact with her.

Matsuo collected the paper from Aussa and Sakura then passed it on to another girl. "Well, they say the results would be in after school," she said. "Let's pray for Sasuke to get the very top!"

"…Who has all the time to count the votes anyway?" Sai questioned.

"Someone who's dedicated?" Naruto grinned.

[…]

The school bell rung and all the students hurried to get the news of which guys and girls had made it to the top four.

Kotono's cell phone vibrated and she took it out. It read 'Out of Area' and she took off her earphone and she answered it. "Hello?" she gathered her things on the desk.

"_Kotono_!" a guy's voice came on. "_I missed your voice_!"

"_Oh, Luke_," she smiled. She put her things in her bag and walked down the between the desks. "_You finally called instead of texting, huh_?"

Before she could leave the room, Michie had popped in front of her with a joyful smile. "Koto! You're the fourth top girl in school!" she said, hugging her. "I'm so happy for you!!"

"_That voice_!" Luke happily shouted from the other side. "_Is that Michichi_?"

"_Yes, it's her_," Kotono said as Michie pulled away. "It's Luke, Michie."

She smiled, "Oh, Luke! Can I talk to him for a minute?"

Asako came along and grabbed Kotono's cell phone and hung up on Luke. She gave it back to Kotono and stomped away.

"What's her problem now?" Neji walked from behind Kotono. Lee and Tenten were walking with him.

"Nothing," Kotono sighed. "I'll just wait until Luke calls again…" She walked off, putting her earphones back on.

Michie laughed nervously. "I shouldn't have brought Asa along…" she said, rubbing the back of her head. "The two of us came here to tell Koto that she made it to the top four. Man, Asa's such a drama queen."

"For real?" Hiita smiled. They all walked out of the classroom with Gaara behind them. "Wow, that transfer girl is more popular than most girls here, huh."

"Who's Luke, by the way?" Tenten asked. She heard his name repeated a couple of times now.

"I guess you can say he's more than a friend to Koto," Michie nodded to herself. "That's what I like to think. Anyway, Sakura got the first for the top four! Nii-chan must be really happy and mad right now. He has a lot of guys to go through, you see. Hehehe!"

Hiita walked beside her. "So Kotono and Sakura made it, what about the other two?"

"Ayaka got second and Ino got third," Michie said. "Well, I'm going to catch up with Koto now!"

Neji and Lee looked at each other. They wondered which guys got the top four.

[…]

Wynn and Ayaka were at the shoe lockers, changing their shoes. When Wynn closed it and walked outside, she heard familiar group of guys coming her way. She looked over her shoulders saw David, Shikamaru, and Choji walking together.

"Yo," Shikamaru waved to Wynn. He nodded to Ayaka. "Heading back to the dorm so soon?"

Ayaka smiled, "And you're going to the park to stare at the clouds?"

"That's what I planned," he smiled. "Coming along Choji?"

"Sure," he said. He looked at David, "Have fun in cram school."

David nodded, looking tired. Shikamaru and Choji left and he was left alone with Wynn and Ayaka. "So, did you girls hear about the top four girls?" he asked, just wanting to start up a conversation.

"Yeah," Wynn answered. "Michie went running around telling the girls. Ayaka was just frozen and shock for a long time." Ayaka blushed at Wynn's statement, trying to laugh it off. "What about the guys?"

"Sasuke got first place," he said. "Neji got second, Sai got third, and I got the forth."

Wynn burst out laughing for a minute and pointed at him. "Oh my god, you actually made it!" she grinned widely.

"It's not funny," he said tiredly. "Now I know there would be more squealing girls around me."

"That's what you get for looking cool," she teased, walking away.

"What, did you vote for me too?" he followed her, getting irritated.

She smirked, "Yeah, but I just wanted to see if you will make it to the top four or not."

He sighed, "If you didn't, I probably wouldn't get fourth."

"Who did you vote for?" she asked, looking up at him.

David silently walked. "…Kotono," he said, slightly blushing.

Wynn was going to stomp on his feet but she held back. "Oh… I guess I should respect whom you choose," she said, walking faster.

He watched her go and made a confused face. "What do you mean by that?" he questioned.

[…]

"I wonder what Asa and Nii-chan's doing," Michie thought out loud. She was walking back to the dorm with Kotono. Michie was not expecting for Kotono to reply since she had her earphones on.

They walked and walked. The dorm was just around the corner and they silently looked at each other. Two days ago they were told that Oma would be the one to decide who will win their game from last time. Oma said she would think of something before the end of this week so she might have something today.

There was a little shop before entering the high stairs to the dorm. Oma was living with an older man who owns the shop, but they had not met him yet.

"Oh, hey!" Oma was standing by the small building. The sign read: The Little Shop. She smiled brightly and waved to the two girls. "Are you two ready?"

"Yes, bring it on!" Michie said, running up to her.

Kotono slowly walked to them, taking off her earphones. "School's finally over for the week," she smiled in relief. "The only bad part about it is that we only have only Sunday to relax."

"I totally agree," Oma nodded. "That's sort of why I stop learning and work instead. Well, let's get the game going… I wouldn't call it a game, but it's only a one-question game. Whoever answers it correctly will win."

"I'll go first!" Michie raised her hand.

"Alright," Oma leaned against the shop's door. "When a girl had always thought if two people liked each other she assumed that they would be happy all the time. After being with the one she really liked, she realized that's not how it is at all. Why does she think that?"

Michie paused. "Oh no… a love question? I have never been in love before!"

"Your answer is?" Oma smirked.

"Um…" she bit her nails. "Let me think for a second… So she likes this person, thinking she would be like everyone else who loves being close…? Uh… I think it's because the one she likes is a jerk?"

Oma smiled, "Okay, what about you, Kotono?"

"She really wanted him to like her," Kotono said, crossing her arms. "So they go out. The closer she gets to him, the more confused she becomes. It could be because he doesn't show much emotion. What a bastard. Getting closer just creates a feeling of uncertainty so it's not a happy feeling."

"Sounds pretty good," Oma nodded to herself. "It doesn't matter what kind of answer to this question there is, it only matters if it sounds realistic… or right. I say… I like Kotono's answer, so you win."

Michie gasped, "No fair! She has experience in this before! Let's have another rematch!"

Oma giggled, "Sorry, Michie-san. Now, go let my parents know about your wish, Kotono-san."

"Okay," she nodded.

"Man, I guess it can't be helped," Michie sighed. She walked toward the dorm by herself, wondering what she should do tomorrow.

Kotono was going to go with her, but then she smelled cigarette's smoke in the air. She looked at the shop's open window at the side of the small building. A man was smoking and he noticed the two girls.

"Oh, Orochimaru," Oma smiled. "You're awake."

He just smiled.

"Who's he?" Kotono asked.

"The owner of the shop," she replied, opening the door of the shop. "I work and live here."

Kotono nodded slowly. She walked into the small shop and looked around. There were some school's supply, mugs, boxes of snacks, and empty jars. What caught her eyes were the packs of cigarettes, lined up at the counter. "Can I buy a pack of cigarettes?" she asked.

Oma looked at her. "Aren't you a bit too young?" Oma inquired.

"It's not like I'm drinking beer, right? Usually I smoke five times a week, but I promised to smoke once a week now," she said. "I have my mother's permission since I have been smoking for nearly two years now."

"I won't give you a discount, even if you're Uzumaki's child," Orochimaru appeared behind the counter. "She had stopped by here before and told me to allow to sell them for you. Not that I would care though. I'm making business."

Kotono smiled, "Thank you."

"What?" Oma looked at the blonde. She was surprised. "What kind of mother do you have?"


	9. Sunday Chores For Everyone!

Narrative

"Talking"

_Thinking_

"_Speaking in another language_"

* * *

**Chapter 9 – Sunday Chores For Everyone!**

Date: Sunday, April 19

Hidan knocked on a bedroom door from the hallway, yawning in the early morning of Sunday. "Rai… Eria… Konan…" he tiredly said. "Get up. The old couple has another thing for us to do."

In the bedroom where Hidan was knocking on were shared by the three college girls. They opened their eyes. "Okay," Rai called. She was sixteen, but she was already in college so she was sharing rooms with these two girls.

Hidan's footsteps faded away and he knocked on the other doors.

"Sounds like Tsunade and Jiraiya figured out who does what," Konan mumbled. "The chores, I mean."

Eria covered her head with a blanket, silent. She felt lazy today, but she would have to work hard as always. Chores were not too hard to handle every Sunday after all. They get a place to sleep and eat so they have to do something for the old couple in return.

[…]

Michie danced around her bedroom. She was excited to be doing something with everyone in the dorm again, or so she thought. Since Tsunade called everyone to come down, she just wanted to see Nagato again. She rarely sees him around the dorm.

She had already gone to the bathroom so she put on her clothes and tied her hair. Asako and Kotono were still in their beds and Michie giggled. "I'll head down first," she said, opening the door.

After a few minutes, the two got up at the same time. "Man, we can't even relax on a free day?" Asako mumbled, leaving the room with Kotono behind her, who followed her.

They walked down the hallway and at the end was Sakura standing where Naruto's bedroom was. The two girls wandered to where she was and looked into the bedroom. Sasuke, Naruto, and David were still lying in their beds.

"Sasuke-kun, guys, get up," Sakura said as if she had said it many times now. "Tsunade wants all of us down stairs."

"Hey," Asako glared at the guys. "Sakura, if they don't want to get up, don't waste your breath. Come, let's go and wash up together."

Sakura looked at her with a smile. "Thanks, but Tsunade told me to get them…"

Kotono yawned, "Naruto… Mom said she's dropping by today. Maybe around now?"

Naruto quickly got up, and for some reason so did David. "Why does she tell you everything and not me?" Naruto asked, getting out of bed. "I mean, I'm the brother here."

"I'm older than all you," she said, walking away towards the girls' bathroom.

Asako looked at Sakura who was staring at Sasuke. He was still in bed. She grinned, "I'll go in and wake Sasuke up for you."

When Asako stepped in the room, David blocked her way. "Get out, girls aren't supposed to enter any guy's room," he said.

"I'm going to give you an black eye for protecting Sasuke," Asako said, grinning wider.

Naruto hurried and got out of the room, dragging Asako out too. "Come on, I don't want mom to see you fighting boys early in the morning," he sad. He pushed her into the girls' bathroom and went into the boys' bathroom.

Sakura watched them leave and looked back at David. "Well, I have things to do too, so please get Sasuke up," she said.

"Yeah, I'll try," David rubbed the back of his head. "Usually he does get up early though…"

[…]

Everyone gathered in the breakfast area, getting his or her own breakfast before the old couple had something to announce. Everyone but for the four siblings, who were in the living room with Tsunade, Jiraiya, and another woman who had long hair.

Michie was hugging the woman ever since she was here and the other three siblings were just standing there behind her. "Mom, Kotono won the game!" Michie told her. "But Tsunade and Jiraiya said they needed your permission! Although I don't know what it is…"

Kushina looked at Kotono with a smile. "What did you want, Kotono?" she inquired.

"Well," Kotono scratched her face. "I want the four of us to break our promise to you… just once would be enough."

"What, really?!" Asako grabbed Kotono's right arm and looked at her mother. "Mom, can we?"

Their mother looked at her watch and then back at her children. Michie's eyes were sparkling and Naruto was nodding back and forth. "Oh, alright," she shrugged. "It wouldn't hurt to let you four to do what you want anyway. Just once though."

"Kushina," Tsunade smiled. "How's your job going?"

She turned to her and tapped on her chin. "Just fine," she said. "I'm living with an old friend so it's convenient." She looked at her children and gestured them out of the room. "I'm going to leave soon. Why don't you guys get something to eat?"

"When will we see you again?" Naruto asked.

"I'll give Tsunade a call when I'm available again," she told him with a kind smile.

[…]

"What?!! Chores?!" Naruto shouted. "Mom didn't mention about this! It has to be a lie!"

"Anyway," Tsunade ignored him and looked at her clipboard that had a list of names. "I have assigned everyone to their job. I'm expecting you all to do this every Sunday at anytime, just as long as you do it."

"Although…" Jiraiya said. He was sitting on the sofa. "The ones who were assigned to do shopping will have to get up in the morning and go shopping for food. They also have to go in groups."

Everyone nodded, but for the first years from high school. They had no clue about the chores. Even Gaara did not bring up it to his siblings.

"First off," Tsunade started down the list. "The tools for mopping are in the tool shed. Choji, you get the dining room."

Choji nodded, rearranging his schedule in his mind.

"Tobi, the breakfast area is yours."

He quickly left to do his job.

"Tenten, you get the kitchen and Michie, you get the breezeway. In the changing rooms, Hidan you get the boys' side and Rai you get the girls'."

Michie looked at Tenten. The two areas they were going to mop were right next to each other. "Do you want to go first? I don't want us to do it at the same time… it'd be a bother."

Rai and Hidan looked at each other. "Does she also want the outside of the changing rooms too?" he wondered out loud.

As they talked among themselves, Tsunade continued, "Yahiko, you take the first floor bathrooms. Itachi and Hiita, you two will clean the hallways on the second floor."

"Whenever you're ready," Itachi told Hiita.

"Shino, you get the boys' bathroom on the upper floor," Tsunade said. "As for the girls' bathroom, Ayaka, it's yours." The two nodded. "Zetsu, I want you to get the stairs. Konan, I want you to get the foyer and the other hallway that leads to the master room."

"To those who were called," Jiraiya flapped his hand at them. "You guys can leave. You don't have to stay until everyone knows that they're doing."

Michie dashed off, giggling. "I'll start my job first then!"

"Vacuuming…" Tsunade sat down next to Jiraiya. "Kisame, you get the family room. Hinata, the living room is yours. Sasori, you have the study room. Shikamaru, take the weight room, north. The south one is Sasuke's."

The guys left, but Hinata stayed because she was curious who got what job.

Tsunade marked something on the paper of the clipboard. "Nagato, there's a riding, mowing, machine thing in the cabin at the back of the dorm. I want you to mow the front and back of the dormitory."

He turned around slowly to leave to do it right away.

"Sakura," Tsunade called. "You're cleaning the kitchen counters, sink, etc. Use a rag if you have to. Lee, clean the bathrooms on this floor. For the upper floor, Kakuzu and Naruto, you're both cleaning up there. The girls' bathroom, I will leave it to Ino and Temari. Matsuo and Sai, you two clean the first floor's windows, inside and out. Deidara and Eria, take the windows on the second floor. Use the ladders in the cabin outside when you need to get on the roof."

Matsuo turned to Sai and determinedly smiled. "I'll wash the windows from outside!" her eyes sparkled. "We'll see who finishes their job first!"

"This isn't a competition," he only said.

"Sasori!" Oma opened the front door of the dorm, storming in. She gave him a glomp and kissed on his cheek. "Good morning!"

"Grow up," he lightly glared. "And not in front of everybody…"

She laughed and wrapped her arms around his arm. "No need to be shy," she teased, sniffing his arm.

"Oh, Oma, nice timing," Tsunade said, half smiling. She was a bit annoyed by her daughter's first greeting, but she got it from her father after all. "I want you to take some people with you to do some food shopping. You're free on Sundays now, right?"

"Yeah," Oma nodded.

Tsunade smiled, "Good. Now, for the rest of the people who were not called, you guys will be going with Oma. I will give her the 'Konoha Dormitory Card' so she'll be paying the groceries with it."

Oma let Sasori go as Tsunade handed her a shining silver card. "Who is coming with me again? Who buys what?" she asked.

"Oma, you can get the fats, oils, snacks, etc," Tsunade said. "Kankuro and Nana will be gathering the grain stuff. David and Wynn will get the vegetables. Gaara and Kotono will get the fruits. Kiba and Aussa got the meat. Neji and Asako will get the dairy stuff."

"Hold on a second!!" Asako glared, pointing at the woman. "You're pairing me up with that guy, who I have to deal with every night, on purpose, aren't you?!"

"Get whatever is right," Tsuande said, patting on her daughter's shoulder. "Don't buy too much though, got that? Keep an eye on them."

"Yes, mom!" Oma laughed. "Can I buy a little of something too?"

[…]

Michie was mopping the breezeway and heard a loud mowing machine going across the lawn. She walked closer to the edge of the open window and saw Nagato mowing with a machine he was riding on. She happily watched him go back and forth, slowly mopping in the same spot on the floor.

[…]

"I could so totally use this time to play video games," Aussa sighed in depress.

Kiba was walking with her, the second pair walking in front of the group. Oma was leading them to where the store was down the streets. He looked at Aussa with a sweat drop. "You should come out and play more often though."

"If it ever rains, I'll go out and dance in it," she smiled with a laugh.

Nana was jumping up and down as she walked beside Kankuro. They were behind Kiba and Aussa. "You know, I come from a poor family," she skipped around Kankuro. "So getting free food like this is awesome! I can't wait to buy things to eat!!"

"Just don't forget to share," Kankuro said with a small smile.

Behind the two of them were Gaara and Kotono. He was just walking silently as she put loud music on. The couple behind those two was David and Wynn.

Wynn glanced at David, who seemed to keeping an eye on Kotono. "Too bad you don't get to work with her, huh?" she nudged him in arm.

He looked at her with a dry look. "…Will you not read my mind?" he asked.

"I was?" she blinked.

"Never mind," he said.

Neji and Asako were behind the group, but Neji was the last person following them. Asako did not know why they even have to walk together so she just wanted to get away, even a little. David was in front of her too so she did not want to get too close to him, nor walk pass him.

"I won't ever get peace," Asako mumbled to herself.

Kotono looked around her surroundings as she listened to a soft music. The trees around where they were now were cherry blossoms, the part of this path leads them to school. All of the petals have fallen. Summer would be around the corner soon and she heavily sighed in terror of the heat that would come.

"Yo, meat people," Asako said, looking at Kiba and Aussa's back. "Don't buy any kind of seafood!"

"That's for us to decide," Kiba said.

"Oh, you're just asking me to use a fish and slap your face with it, is that it?" Asako smirked.

David frowned, "Don't start a food fight at the dorm. It's too much work…"

Asako snickered. "Little David can't handle cleaning, huh?"

Oma turned around, walking backwards. "Asako-san, will you stop picking fights with the boys, please?"

"It's fine, as long there's no fists flying around," Asako said, shrugging. "Right?"

They finally reached to the store called: Momochi's Market. The building looked smaller than medium, but yet not all that small either. They thought they were going to a bigger one and Nana questioned Oma about it.

"Are there a lot to buy from here…?" Nana asked. "I've never been here so…"

Oma smiled, "I used to come here with Rai most of the time, so of course there's stuff to buy here! I heard that their sells were lowering for the past few years so I want to help them out! Come on! Let's go and do a good deed and buy a lot!" She grabbed the closest arms, which were Kiba and Aussa, and entered the store. The others entered.

Aussa felt a sudden chill down her spine and smiled excitedly. "W…what is this feeling that I'm getting?!" she hurried around the store. There were a lot of food section and she looked up at the signs on the ceiling. She saw the word Video Games at the far end and dashed for it.

"Ah, wait a minute, Aussa!" Kiba annoyingly followed her. "We're not here for that!"

A girl's laughter made the others, who were still standing at the entrance, turned their heads at the cashier. "They're one interesting couple," she said, brushing her short hair behind her right ear. Her light brown eyes stared at everyone. "Welcome to Momochi's Market."

"Yuki-chan!" Oma ran over and hugged her over the counter. "Good morning!"

"Morning. I see Rai's not here today," Yuki smiled, blinking at the group behind Oma. "Zabuza would have been 'thrilled' if she stopped by."

"I'll let her know sometime," Oma nodded. "She's been busy with college and stuff." She turned to everyone and pointed to the carts to the left. "Well, start shopping guys. We have less than an hour so don't exactly take your time."

When they started to move, Gaara took off one of Kotono's earphone. "Stop listening to loud music all the time," he said with a light glare.

She instantly slapped his hand away and then paused. "Ah," she smiled nervously. She quickly bowed to him. "Sorry! I didn't mean to hit you! It was a reflex…!" He turned away without a word and walked down the fruit aisle with a cart. She followed uneasily. _Scary guy…_ She thought to herself, turning off her music.

"We're not getting celery," Wynn said with a dry expression.

"You're one of the few who doesn't like it," David grabbed some and threw them in the cart. "But there are others who likes them. Let's get ranch while we're at it." He was pushing the cart and she trailed behind him.

Wynn frowned, "You know, getting ranch isn't our job, is it?"

"Ranch is for dressing, so it counts… I think."

"You think?" she grinned at him.

David looked at the cauliflower. When he was about to get it, Wynn slapped his hand. "What, you don't eat these either?" he asked.

"That's why I slapped your hand," she said, pushing him and the cart to move on. "Let's get some carrots. They're waaaay super healthy than these green plants."

"Are you serious?" he chuckled. "Don't you get your veggies back at home at all?"

She nodded, "Yes, I'm serious. I don't like eating most green plants."

"You must have suffer eating Ayaka-san's cooking then," he smirked. She gave him a pinch in the back. "Ow!"

Kankuro and Nana were wondering in the next aisle, looking at the grain. "Pasta are grain?" he blinked in confusion. "Didn't know that."

Nana was pushing the cart as Kankuro looked around. She was looking at the other side at the cereal boxes and then pushed the cart against his back. "Opps, sorry," she said, eyeing the cereals. "Let's get a lot of those, Kankuro."

He looked over his shoulders and shrugged. "Sure," he nodded.

"You should grab your favorites too Kankuro." Nana turned to look at him after getting five boxes of her favorite cereal. "I am." She snickered as he shook his head at her.

"No thanks. I'm not really picky." He told her.

Nana nodded. "Ah, I see." She smiled sweetly at him. "I'm not really picky too, but I got favorites." She told him, laughing with him.

Asako was completely silent as Neji was the one pushing the cart. She saw some gallons of milk in the colder area and took one. Then another and another one and another one again. She looked at Neji who had a questioned look. "Well, I'm a big girl," she said, walking away, grabbing one last gallon of milk.

Neji sighed and grabbed some yogurt along the way. _I'll get some cheese too._ He thought.

"I should have grabbed a few more gallons," Asako mumbled. She did not want to go back to where Neji was and just kept walking. Another person walked around the crossing aisle and she bumped into that person. It felt like a guy's body so she glared and looked up at the person. "Oh…" she blinked. It was a girl with long hair. "Sorry about that."

She smiled, "That's alright. I wasn't really looking where I was going so…"

Asako gasped. Her voice was rather deep for a female.

"Yuki!" a deeper man's voice called. "Where did Haku go?"

"Oh he's right over there, Zabuza!" Yuki exclaimed from where she was. "In the dairy area!"

Haku gave Asako another smile and hurried off. "What is it, Zabuza-sama?" he asked.

Asako stood very still and shock. She covered her mouth with one hand as Neji pushed the cart and stood by her. "I was shocked when I first met him too," he said. He also did shopping for the dorm last year too so he knows Haku a little bit. He looked at Asako and she was blushing in embarrassment.

"That…" she smiled with a light chuckle. Her cheeks felt warm and she covered them with her hands. There was also a warm feeling inside of her. "He's kinda charming… A guy who looks so much like a girl…"

Neji stared at her expression and blinked. "So, you can smile normally around guys your age…" he observed.

She slightly pushed him aside with a glare. It felt like he just ruined the moment for her and it ticked her off quickly. "If that's all we need, let's go at the cashier," she said, walking away.

He deeply sighed and brushed where she touched him. "She really needs to learn some manners," he followed the blonde. "We're not done with the dairy yet, so come back over here."

Kiba dragged Aussa around and pushed a cart, looking around in the meat section. "You can buy those video games the next time you bring your money," Kiba snarled. "We have a job to do!"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" she said, trying to pull her arm away from his hard grip. "Just let me go! I see chicken wings over there!"

"This way first," he grinned, still dragging her. "I want to get the sausages first."

Aussa smiled brightly, "Oh okay! Hey, let's get bacon and eggs while we're heading that way."

"Look, its beef!" he pointed.

"No, we're not getting that."

David and Wynn were at the cashier with Oma and they were just waiting for everyone now. Oma noticed something missing in their pile and asked, "Where's celery?"

"Wynn didn't want them, so I put them back." he said. "Can't really argue with her about it."

"Go and get some," Oma pleaded with puppy eyes towards Wynn. "I love them! Some people like them too, you know?"

Wynn was going to protest, but Haku came by and said, "I'll go and get them."

Oma smiled happily and waved at him as he turned to leave and get them. "You're a big help, Haku!" she giggled.

"…Is that person a he?" Wynn questioned, pointing where Haku was.

Yuki laughed, "Yep!"

Wynn paused with a smile. There was just some kind of warm and mysterious aura that was about Haku. "Wow," she kept smiling.

David poked her forehead. "What's so great about that guy?" he questioned with a dry look.

"Don't worry," she smirked. "You're still the number four at school. Hehehe."

As Haku grabbed a few bags of celery, he walked down the aisle and bumped into a cart that Kotono was pushing. "Oh, sorry!" Haku slightly blushed. "I've been running into people's way lately."

"That's fine," she said, blinking. "At least you didn't bump into this Gaara guy."

Gaara was just looking through the find peaches, but looked over his shoulders with an empty expression when Kotono mentioned him.

Haku smiled, "Then I'm glad I ran into this cart. He would have been scary if I ran into him."

"Right?" Kotono chuckled.

Grabbing a bag, Gaara took random peaches and threw them in the cart. He walked pass the two and headed towards the cashier. "Stop giggling," he told her. "Find what you want before we leave."

Kotono sighed, "That's like the third time he told me." She did not have anything she wanted to eat. "Oh, do you guys have diet coke?" she looked at Haku.

He thought for a moment and nodded, "Yes, but I think there's none around here. I'll go and get them from the back. Here, take this with you too." He handed her the celeries.

"Ah, thank you," she said as he walked away. Then she pushed the cart back to the entrance where Yuki was now calculating the items.

"Can I get a part-time job here?" Asako asked.

Kotono put the cart behind the other people at the cashier. David, Wynn, Neji, Asako, Oma, and Gaara were there. She was surprised that Asako actually wanted to work. "Asako, it's against school's rule," Kotono said.

"As long no one's telling then it's fine," Asako said. She eyed her sister, sending a message.

"…Mom will find out either way," Kotono shrugged. "Whatever… Do what you want."

Asako smiled and looked at Yuki. "Is there a job opening?" she inquired.

"Well," Yuki scratched her face, unsure. "Zabuza doesn't really hire people much… it's just me and Haku here who work full time. Oma and Rai come and help out sometimes, but they considered it like they were volunteering. Then we have that man Kakashi who secretly work part-time here as well…"

"Whoa, what?" Aussa asked. She walked by with Kiba and they had picked out what they needed. "My homeroom teacher works here too?"

"Sign me up!" Asako said, raising her hand. "I want to work part time here!"

"No way," Zabuza said. He walked pass the group and behind the cashier. "You won't be able to take it." He grabbed a brown bag and walked away.

Asako glared, "What do you mean by that?!"

"He's the boss here," Yuki told her. "If he says no, then you can't."

Asako crossed her arms, scheming something in her mind. "…I'll come back here again," she said, nodding in determination. Anything to work along side with Haku!

Oma turned around to see if Kankuro and Nana were done yet. They were and the two of them pushed the cart behind the group. Oma noticed there were a lot of cereal boxes and sweat dropped. "Put half of those cereal boxes back, you two," she said.

Nana pouted angrily at Oma. While she was doing that, Kankuro took that opportunity and turned the cart around, heading towards the cereal aisle. "HEY!!" Nana dashed after Kankuro furiously. "Can't I at least get a debate with Oma?"

"No." Kankuro told her as both of their arguing voices faded away in the background.

Haku came back and put a set of diet coke in Kotono's cart. "Here you go," he smiled.

"Thanks again," Kotono smiled back.

Asako looked at the two and sighed. She saw some dazzling fireflies flying around them and sighed more heavily. "Not again…" she leaned on her cart.

Neji was on the other side of the cart and glanced at her eyes that were soulless for a second. He looked at Kotono and Haku, who seem to be getting along. _Not again?_ He thought, puzzled.


	10. Confessing To Nagato

**Author's Note: **Sorry, usually I don't proof read what I wrote. Although I do have a couple of people reading the chapters but I can't guarantee that they catch any mistakes because they're so drawn into this or either they're too lazy to correct them. Like me. XD

* * *

Narrative

"Talking"

_Thinking_

"_Speaking in another language_"

* * *

**Chapter 10 – Confessing To Nagato**

Date: Moday, April 20

A black and red cell phone was vibrating beside Wynn's pillow. She was recharging it last night and left it there until morning. She heard the vibrating and twirled in the bed, not picking it up.

Hiita, her roommate, woke up slowly from the light noise like a robot. She looked at her alarm clock and it was still five in the morning. She sat up and stretched. "Might as well get up early and take a shower," she decided.

Wynn heard the door open and closed after a few moments. Her cell phone started to vibrate again and she frowned. Her hand reached tiredly for the phone and she picked it up. She looked at who was calling her as it vibrated in her hand. It read Home. She turned it on and put it to her ear. "…Yes?" she yawned.

[…]

Hiita walked out of the bathroom, drying her wet hair with a towel. She walked down the hallway and opened to the door of her room. Wynn stood there and blinked. She was just going to open it and go out. "Morning," Hiita greeted.

"Good morning!" Wynn smiled and hugged her. She sighed happily and let go. "There, I feel recharged now!" She skipped away to go and use the bathroom.

"What was that about?" David tiredly popped his head out from the next-door room.

"Not sure," Hiita shrugged. "As long she's happy, I don't care."

David covered his mouth as he yawned. "No, I mean… Wynn was just talking really upset-loud and it woke me up… it was a minute ago…"

"I don't know," Hiita said, walking into her room and shut the door to change.

[…]

Wynn walked out of her room and walked down the hall. She heard someone mumbling out loud and the pacing steps quicken by the second. When she walked at the end of the hallway, Michie was walking in circles by the stairs, talking to herself. "What are you doing?" she asked with curiosity.

"I…" Michie looked at her, biting her nails. Then she smiled brightly and grabbed Wynn's hands. "You can help me!!"

"With what?" she blinked.

"My confession!" Michie grinned, slightly blushing. "It's been a week since I met him and I waited sooo long to think when I should confess! I have to do it today! I can't hold it in anymore!!!"

"…Whoa…" she chuckled. _Who does she like?_ She thought. "…Is it Sasuke?"

Michie shook her head. "No, but he's the third person on my list!"

"Oh my god," Wynn said with disbelief. _She has a list?_ She rubbed the back of her head.

"It's Nagato!" Michie chirped, swinging Wynn's arms. "Oh, but have you ever confessed to anyone before?"

"Uh…"

"What, you haven't?" Michie asked. "…Oh, then I guess it would be a good experience for you too! So, will you help me out?"

"Huh…" Wynn scratched her head.

Michie blinked. "…Will you?"

"Oh, don't worry, I will," she waved her hand. "It's not going to be easy though."

She nodded back and forth. "I know, that's why I'm going to ask another girl to help us! Koto's too experienced… or so I think, so I don't want to ask her. Asa hates this kind of thing, so she can't help either… Who do you think who would want to help me?"

"Who…?" Wynn crossed her arm and looked around. "Let me think…" She rubbed her chin and thought about Ino and Sakura. _Maybe not them._ She sighed. Those two don't seem to have good results after telling Sasuke that they like him. "Maybe Nana…?"

"Oh, her?" Michie questioned. "I haven't really talked to her before… do you think she would help?"

"You and I haven't really talked to each other either," Wynn laughed nervously.

Michie giggled, "True! Okay, which rooms is she in?"

"This way," Wynn gestured.

The two girls went down the hallway towards the bathroom and continued walking pass the other bedroom rooms. They stopped on the second last door to their right and Wynn was about to knock on the door. Michie blinked, "Oh, we're like next doors to each other. My room is right on the end."

Wynn stopped herself from knocking and then looked at Michie. "Maybe we should ask her when she's awake… its still kinda early," she suggested.

Michie pouted, but nodded. "Okay… I can still confess when I come back from school."

"You're really serious about going to confess him today?" Wynn asked, her eyes was widen in surprise. "Can't you wait? Don't you want a bullet proof plan?"

Before Michie could reply, the door suddenly opened and there stood Nana in her bright red pajamas. She was rubbing her eyes and staring at the girls in front of her. "…Confess? Plan?" she questioned, yawning.

"Nana!" Michie smiled happily.

"Hold on," Nana waved, yawning again. "I need to wash up first. We'll talk when we're in the breakfast area."

[…]

"Oh my god, you like Nagato?" Nana inquired with an astonish expression. "That gloomy guy who hangs around Yahiko and Konan?"

The three girls were sitting by the only window in the room. Nana was having her favorite cereal and tiny milk in her bowl, Michie had eggs and bacon, which she took the time to make while Nana was still in the bathroom, and Wynn was having pancakes.

Michie shrugged, "I don't know about gloomy, but yeah."

Nana took a bite of her cereal and looked seriously at Michie, "What will you do if he doesn't like you back?"

"…I don't know," Michie giggled. "I'll move onto another guy… maybe. So, what do girls normally do when they confess?"

"Wait, why didn't you ask your sisters again?" Wynn questioned.

Michie shrugged. "Asako never was interested in going out with anybody. Kotono… it doesn't really count that she confessed before. Anyway, how should I confess?"

Nana suddenly smiled brightly and her eyes sparkled. "Why don't we ask Rai?" she suggested.

"Huh, why's that?" Michie blinked, puzzled.

Wynn nodded, "Oh yeah, Rai. She's a total genius! Why didn't I think of her? She's only sixteen and she's already in college!"

Michie's mouth dropped in shock. "…What? Rai's in college?" She asked. She was wondering why she didn't see Rai at school. "She must be very experienced then!"

"Yes, she's very mature!" Nana said, pointing in the air. "She must know something about love and she hangs out with Nagato and the guys a lot!"

"She should at least know something about chemistry," Wynn said sarcastically.

Michie blinked. "Huh? What's love got to do with chemistry?"

"No matter!" Nana said, standing up. "With Rai and my brain in addition as well as Wynn's and your help, Nagato will _not_ say 'no' to your love!" She rubbed her hands together, almost too evilly. Even her laughter was almost a bit too evil. "This will be _fun_!"

"Yay!" Michie stood up as well, clapping her hands.

"This isn't a game," Wynn said quietly to herself.

Nana heard her and smirked. "Oh, oh, I know that," she gestured with her hand strangely.

The three girls turned quickly to the sound of loud yawning. Suddenly Rai appeared with her hair (which is usually tied into pigtails) untied and messy. Rai looked at the three girls, surprised. "Oh, aren't we up earlier than usual?"

Nana smiled brightly and waved Rai over towards them, "Rai! We need your help!"

[…]

The four girls locked themselves in the study room, which was filled with books that were on the shelves, and plotting to catch Nagato off guard. "Mission number one," Nana first started.

"There's going to be a number two?" Michie asked, worried she might fail the first.

"No," Nana said. "There's only to be one mission!" She pulled a black board out of thin air, putting it in front of the three girls who were sitting down. She pulled out a long stick out of her sleeves. On the black board was a chibi Nagato and chibi Michie drawn cutely with a huge heart in between them. "Okay girls! Mission No.1 brain storming begins now!" Rai rose her hands with a curious face. "Yes, Fierce Ox?"

Rai paused in silence, "Fierce Ox?"

Wynn giggled, "Are we going to war?"

Nana crossed her arms, nodding, "Love is always about war!"

Rai chuckled nervously with Michie. "Um, not always," Rai pointed. "Anyways, my real question."

"Yes Fierce Ox?!" Nana cried happily, pointing at Rai.

Rai chuckled at herself now, "Wait, I forgot. I was so caught up with my new nickname." She stuck out her tongue at her airhead moment.

Michie burst out laughter at Rai though. "So, what's the plan?" she looked at Nana, curiously.

Nana flicked a chalk into her fingers and swung white chalk onto the board quickly. Within seconds she drew a chibi Rai and a love letter, an arrow pointing from Michie to Rai. And then another arrow was drawn quickly from Rai to Nagato. "The important thing is the letter! Which will of course be written by Michie, codename: Killer Bee!"

Michie nodded, "Yes!"

Wynn rose her hand, Nana pointed at her. "What's my codename?" She asked enthusiastically.

"Venom Flower!" Nana answered quickly. "And I am Big Mama!"

"Why _Big Mama_?" Rai looked over at the two girls.

Nana ignored Rai and went back to the drawing board. "Michie's written love letter will be given to Rai and she will _secretly_ give to Nagato, privately! This way, no one will know about the love letter except for us. And anyone let out the truth about Michie's love letter will burn forever in hell!"

Wynn sweat dropped, "Isn't that a little harsh?"

Nana shook her head, "No it is not!" She slammed her stick on the black board. She smiled brightly at the girls. "Any question on Mission No.1 Plan A?"

"Plan A?" Wynn asked.

Rai chuckled, "And here I thought this was the only one plan."

"You have a plan B?" Michie asked.

Nana nodded, "That's right! If this one fails of course!"

"Fail like how?" Michie asked. "If he doesn't accept my love, then it's okay." Michie told Nana with a small smile. "I don't mind." She nodded.

Nana nodded, "Yes, I know. But what if the love letter disappears from Rai's possession?!"

"Oh, I didn't think of that," Michie said, clapping her hands in awe.

Rai gave Nana a flat look, "That's highly unlikely." She crossed her arms and nodding like a child. "I am not at all irresponsible."

Nana nodded, "Yes, I know. But what if someone found out our plan?"

Rai's mouth dropped, "What? Who would care?"

Nana crossed her arms and glared at the ceiling above her, "The _girl_ who likes Nagato, of course!"

"What girl?" Rai asked, confused.

"Any girl!" Nana told Rai, going back to her drawing board again.

Wynn looked over at Michie and Rai, "This is my first time ever seeing Nana this crazy before."

Michie nodded. "Me too."

Rai laughed. "She's always this crazy." Pausing for a second, "Okay, for some parts."

Nana turned back at the girls with a new drawn plan, "Okay, if Plan A fails, Plan B will be put into action!" She slammed the board with her stick again. "If Rai should lose the letter, she will tell Nagato herself to meet her a designated spot and instead of her meeting Nagato that afternoon, it will be Michie instead!"

Rai played with her fingers now, "I thought I was here to help you plan this out."

Nana laughed, "Not anymore! I thought I needed you, but I guess I was all right on my own!" She laughed evilly this time, making Rai pout. She petted on Rai's shoulder. "It's okay. Mission No.2, I'll let you take over." She promised. Rai nodded, stars in her eyes.

Michie looked at Nana, "Will this be bullet proof?"

Wynn nodded, "Yeah, I agree with Michie. Will this really work?"

Rai nodded, "of course." She stood up with Nana. "Since Michie's goal is to just confess, it should not be too hard just to set up a location for her to tell Nagato of her feelings." Rai nodded again, looking over at the proud Nana. "And the letter by Michie is a good plan. And IF I do happen to lose the letter, I will make sure to let Nagato know myself of the location to meet 'me'. So don't worry." She assured Michie.

Michie smiled, "Okay!" She nodded.

Wynn scratched her head, "Okay then… when does this mission begin?"

Michie stood up, "Today!"

Nana nodded, "That's right! It begins right now!" She took out a sheet of paper and a pen, setting it on the table in front of Michie. "Do you need help with this?"

"I'm confident," she nodded back and forth.

[…]

The high schoolers all had already left for school. And the college students all were just about getting ready for their classes. A couple had already left before the high schoolers. Rai had the same first class with Nagato and Konan. The three of them left the dormitory together and walked with a pleasant atmosphere. As they were riding in the train to their designation, Rai was sitting in between Nagato and Konan. She turned to Nagato, nudging him slightly that caused him to look up at her.

Rai gave him a smile, "Here." She handed the letter with a heart sticker. "From a certain someone." She winked, Nagato grabbing the letter blankly.

"…Thanks." He told her, looking at the letter with a curious face.

Konan looked at the two of them, confused.

[…]

As soon as school got out, Michie quickly rushed back to the dorm. Wynn was following her after seeing Michie getting her shoes on. Nana came along with a face that read: don't you dare leave me behind.

Ino noticed her classmate, Nana, following the other two girls. "What's their rush?" she asked.

"Who knows," Choji shrugged. "Maybe they know today's the last day for 100 yen per person at that old sushi buffet." He giggled.

Ino glared at Choji, "They're not like you!" She told him angrily. She turned back at the three girls and shrugged as well, finding it useless to guess what they were up to.

[…]

Michie stood at the west side of the door, where the dining room's west wall should be, looking and waiting for Nagato to show up. Wynn and Nana were hiding in the bushes, looking around also.

"…What if he doesn't show up?" Michie started to think. She felt it was harder than she thought it was. "What should I do if he rejects me?"

"I thought she said she was going to move on," Nana said, looking at Wynn.

"Maybe she really, really likes him…?" she blinked, slightly shrugging.

There was footsteps coming and the two girls lowered their heads in the bushes. Nagato appeared around the corner and Michie smiled.

"Finally he's here!" Nana whispered loudly. "Making a girl wait…"

"Sorry…" Rai's head popped out of the bush. "We missed our train."

Wynn and Nana turned to her, shock. "When did you get here?" Wynn questioned.

"Shh, shh!" Rai hushed them. "It's starting!"

"Um…" Michie played with his fingers. _I never thought how I should confess…! Should I just say that I like him? Please go out with me?_ She started to blush in embarrassment as the two stood quietly.

Nagato stared at Michie who shyly looked at the ground. He closed his eyes and sighed, knowing why she had asked him to meet her in this place. "I'm flattered, Michie-chan." He began, making Michie looked up at Nagato, hopeful. "But I'm not looking for any relationship right now." He told her, her smile slowly disappearing. He turned around, "It's better if you find someone else." And left Michie behind coldly.

Rai whinced in pain, "Gee, Nagato-kun is so cold!" She whispered at Wynn and Nana, who nodded in agreement. "I knew this was going to happen though." Rai sighed, looking at Michie.

Michie blinked, shock. She felt her knees going weak, but stepped forward and tugged his sleeve. "Ah, then… can we be friends then? That's a relationship too, but friends?" she asked, blushing.

He glanced at her.

"In the game of introduction," she smiled. "I was planning to get your name on my list, but you weren't around and time was already up… so…"

Nagato slowly turned around at Michie and her seriousness. He managed to smile and let out a soft chuckle. He nodded, "Of course."

She smiled happily. "Then… can I hold your arm for while?" she asked.

Nagato scratched his head as he could not put into his mind how that was being friends. It was a little too close for his taste. But he let out a small sigh and nodded once, "Sure."

Rai chuckled to herself, "Nagato-kun is passive as always!"

"Yay!" Michie giggled, wrapping her arms around his. "…Are you in a rush though?"

Nagato shook his head. "No. Just going to go out drinking with the guys and Eria and Rai later."

She pouted, "They're so lucky to be around you all the time…!"

"That so?"

Michie blinked in confusion and looked at him. "Rai's drinks?" she asked.

He shook his head, "No. She drinks tea."

"Oh, I see," she giggled.

Nana sighed with a disappointed face as she slowly crawled away from the scene. "This wasn't a happy ending…"

Wynn smiled slightly though, "But it was a good ending, right?"

Rai nodded, "Yes, it was."

Nana sighed again, "But this was going to be the perfect plan where he'll accept her love though!"

Rai laughed quietly, "Love doesn't work the way you want it too, not all the time anyways."

Wynn nodded, "YES YES!"


	11. Rejection Hurts

Narrative

"Talking"

_Thinking_

"_Speaking in another language_"

* * *

**Chapter 11 – Rejection Hurts**

Date: Tuesday, April 21

On a Tuesday morning at the entrance of the school, Kotono opened her shoe locker and saw a couple love letters in there. She sighed, "How many times did I receive these? It's been only three days."

"Hey, Koto," Michie greeted with a smile. She saw her older sister back in the dorm, but she wanted to say hello at school too. Michie changed her shoes at the shoe lockers then she noticed the letters in Kotono's shoe locker. Assuming they were love letters, she asked, "Did you ever go and meet those boys who send you those?"

"I did," she replied, changing her shoes and closing the locker. "But I'm getting too tired to walk around and search for them now…"

Michie blinked, "Why don't you announce you already have a boyfriend back in America? They might give up."

Kotono thought about it as she put the letters in her school bag. _Maybe I should_. She nodded lazily.

Naruto and Asako walked into the school, arguing out loud. "Come on!" Asako grabbed his arm. "Get that part-time job with me! It's not hard!"

"I think about it," he told her, struggling his arm away. They walked up to Michie and Kotono, who stared at them blankly. "Why don't you get Michi to work with you instead?" Naruto suggested, wanting no part of it.

"Eh?" Michie stepped back.

Asako shrugged, "It doesn't matter who, I just need someone!"

Kotono tilted her head, puzzled. "You mean the market? Didn't that cashier Yuki say something about Oma-san and Rai-san volunteering there?" she asked.

"What, did she?" she inquired with a happy expression.

"She told you right in your face," Kotono nodded back and forth, smiling a little. "Something about the two of them helping them out sometimes. Let's go there after school."

"…Why?" Asako asked, narrowing her eyes. The first thing that popped in her head was Haku.

Kotono sighed in depress. "We ran out of diet coke. I'm not the only one who likes them after all."

"Oh, okay," Asako nodded, smiling in relief. _She's not going there to see Haku, phew._ She hummed happily.

Naruto and Michie looked at each other and back at Kotono. He asked, "With your own money?"

"Yeah," she replied, turning around. "I'm going to class now. I'll see you three later." She walked away, putting her earphones on.

"Wait a second," Asako gasped. "I can't just go and ask to help out! I need someone to take me there and recommend me! Oma-san and Rai-san…? I don't know them!"

Michie pointed at herself. "Oh, I know Rai! I know her! I'll ask her for you, Asa! I'll text her right now!"

"Oh, Michie!" Asako hugged her, smiling. "You're a life saver!"

[…]

"Asa's really hardworking so please recommend her to the Momochi's Market," Rai read on her violet cell phone, as she was walking to her class. "It would be a great help, Rai-chan! Meet Koto and Asa in front of the dorm when you come back from your classes…"

With her were Hidan, Kakuza, and Sasori. They were just walking the same path she was taking, down the sidewalk by a large building. Hidan looked over her shoulders as they hurried. "Who is it from?" he asked.

"Michie," Rai smiled. She quickly texted back and put her cell phone away. "One of her sisters wants to volunteer at Zabuza's place. She wants me to take her there."

"What?" Kakuzu asked. "Doesn't she want to make money?"

She shrugged with a giggle. "I don't know exactly," she rubbed the back of head. "Oma told me the other day to stop by at the market, so I guess this is my chance to visit them."

"You're not coming with us for drinks this afternoon?" Hidan inquired in disappointment.

"Another time," she smiled up at him she patted him on the shoulders.

Kakuzu growled, "You and Oma used to volunteer there, right? Man, what were you guys thinking, working for free?" Then he thought what kind of person Oma was. They known each other for quite a while, but he would have never thought she would help out without being paid. "Why did Oma work there in the first place…?"

"Tsk," Sasori narrowed his eyes. "Probably just to see some guy there."

Rai pouted and patted on his shoulder. "You have to stop thinking she's like that," she said. "Although… she always being pick up by guys back in the past but she volunteers there because she has a great friend who works full-time there."

"I really don't care," Sasori quickly said. "Later." He turned to walk down the other path.

"I'm sure you do!" Rai exclaimed with a giggle. "She always give you a kiss on the cheek before you leave for your classes in the mornings and you don't seem to mind!"

Sasori stopped walking and stared back at Rai with a dry look. "I _only _got used to it," he said.

[…]

Michie stood outside of her classroom, looking at her message in her yellow and black cell phone that Rai had just send her. The students were walking down the hallways, getting ready to head for their classrooms. "Alright," she quickly sent a message to Asako.

Kankuro walked by. Before he entered the classroom, he looked at her, "Don't play around with your cell phone too long."

"Yes," she nodded, putting her phone away. Just when she was going to follow Kankuro into the class, she noticed a figure down the hallway. Kotono had entered the library. "Huh?" Michie blinked a couple of times. "Oh, I want to skip class too," she quietly talked to herself. She hurried off down the hall and looked around to make sure no one was looking.

Michie pushed the door to the library open and walked around the tables. There was no one around. "No wonder she picked this place as a hiding spot…" she quietly thought. She went around the bookshelves to find where she was.

Then she finally spotted Kotono sitting at a single table at the end of the room at the right side of the wall. She heard her loud music that she was putting on so she knew she was somewhere close by. Michie walked up slowly and looked over Kotono's shoulders. She was reading a book that was probably more than a hundred pages.

Kotono felt someone tapping on her shoulder and she jumped. She turned and looked up at her sister in surprise, turning her music off. "Michie? What are you doing here?"

"Skipping classes with you," she giggled, sitting down on the chair beside her. The school bell ringed. "What are you reading?"

"Well…" she showed her the cover of the book. It was about rabbits. "I randomly took this book and was curious about it because it had more than two hundred pages. I was wondering why it's so long and just started to read it yesterday."

"Why don't you just check the book out and take it home?" Michie asked.

Kotono smiled, "I don't know." She looked back into the book and flipped the page.

Michie silently stared at Kotono and then the book. She looked at Kotono's bag on the table. It was open and she saw the love letters. "Have you read those though?" she questioned, taking them.

"Those new ones?" Kotono looked up from the book. "No, not yet. I did read the others before today. Why?"

"Well," she gazed at the unopened letters. "I was wondering if you're planning to meet them after reading them. What if they want to meet you today?"

Kotono sighed, putting the book face down to save her page. "I don't want to," she said, leaning on her palm. "Not to be mean, but I get kinda sweaty walking and meeting them all at the same time. My allergic to water situation… it's a pain, you know? I had to go through it for two days now."

Michie thought about how Nagato was taking it when he read her love letter. She would have been hurt if he didn't show up. She put the letters in front of Kotono and smiled. "Just walk slowly," she said. "You have to go through all of them and not break their hearts, Koto."

She sighed and moved the letters away. "You know how I sweat easily," she narrowed her eyes on the letters. "I really don't care if I hurt their feelings. I don't need to go through this."

"But," Michie moved the letters back. "Imagine this… If I gave a love letter to someone I really like and he didn't read it… I would be very hurt… wouldn't you feel bad for me?"

Kotono looked at Michie, who looked almost sad. "…Did Nagato-san not meet with you?" she inquired, shock.

She laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head. "No, no, he did," she said. "But… when he said he wasn't looking for a relationship and walked away without another word… I thought I was going to fall…" She recalled his cold back and bit her lower lip. "We're friends now and that's okay with me."

"But being rejected hurts, right?" Kotono asked.

"I tried not to think about it," Michie said, her voice shaking. "Ah, Koto, why did you have to ask?" She covered her face, turning away.

Kotono brushed her bangs behind her ears as Michie started to sniff. She looked down at the letters and touched them. "Don't cry, Michie," she told her quietly. "I can't wipe away your tears… you know? And if you cry too long… I might cry too."

"Oh, sorry," Michie's tears fall down on her lap. She quickly wiped them and Kotono lightly hugged her. She whimpered and tried to hold back her tears from falling on her sister's arms.

"I'll go and smack him in the head for you," Kotono said, trying to comfort her.

"N-no, you don't have to," Michie giggled through her shaking voice.

"There you are!" Michie and Kotono turned their heads and saw Lee stomping up to them. When he noticed Michie crying, he nearly tripped. "…Did something happen?" he asked.

Kotono smiled nervously. She had skipped class before and their homeroom teacher, Gai, would make Lee go out and find her. "Sorry if we were late," she said, trying to think up an excuse as she pulled away from Michie. "I heard Michie was having a hard time and I found her here."

"Eh?" Michie looked at her, blinking.

"I see," Lee nodded. "I'm sure Gai-sensei won't punish you too harshly, but have you seen Gaara? I saw him leaving the dorm, but he's not in class either."

The two girls shook their heads.

Lee sighed heavily. "I guess I'll go and find him. Why don't you take Michie back to class, Kotono-san?"

"Yes, I'll do that," Kotono said, standing up. She collected her things and left the book about rabbits on the table. "Let's go Michie."

She nodded and stood up. Lee reach out and wiped her tears. She looked at him and he smiled at her. "I don't know what happened but…" he said, giving her a thumbs up with a huge grin. "Hang in there."

"…Thank you," she smiled back. She never talked to Lee before and this was rather refreshing for her to. She kept smiling at him, daydreaming his kindness just now.

Kotono stared at the two of them. Michie then grabbed her sister's hand and they both walked away.

Lee decided to look around the library since it looked like a good hiding place. Then he heard something and quickly ran towards the sound. It was just about a couple of yards away from where the girls sat. He saw Gaara who was trying to walk away and grabbed his shoulder. "Where do you think you're going?!" he asked.

Gaara had a dry expression on as Lee dragged him out of the library.

[…]

It was already after school and Asako was waiting at the front doors of the school, pass the shoe lockers, for Kotono. After a minute or two, Kotono rushed to her. "Ready?" Asako asked.

"Sorry, but can you give me five minutes?" Kotono requested, showing her love letters. "I have a couple of guys to _kindly_ reject."

She rolled her eyes, "Eh, make it fast. I don't think we need to rush anyway."

"Thanks," Kotono smiled. "I'll try to make it fast and _kindly_."

Asako watched her run and sweat dropped. "Hey, I say take your time! You don't need to hurry like that!" Kotono just waved, continued to jog down the hall. Then she heard a slam against a shoe locker. She was curious and followed the voices. She poked her head at the other side of the shoe lockers and saw Gaara and some other guy by Kotono's shoe locker.

"Hey, what was that for!" some guy with black hair lightly glared at Gaara.

"If you're gonna give her a love letter," Gaara glared at him. His hand was against Kotono's shoe locker. "Confess right in front of her face. Stop making her waste her time to run around and find each and every one of you in this school. She has a health problem."

The guy stepped back with an uneasy look. "How did you know I was going to…?"

"Spread the word," Gaara walked pass him with a death glare.

"W… who do you think you are?!" He watched Gaara leave the school and everyone there was looking at the black hair guy. He turned to leave, embarrass.

Asako raised one of her eyebrows and blinked after a moment. "I could have done that," she nodded to herself.

[…]

"Thanks for coming, Rai-san," Asako smiled happily at the genius young college girl. She was walking with Rai and Kotono and was on their way to Momochi's Market. Asako and Rai were in front of Kotono.

"Sure," Rai smiled. "You can call me Rai. You too, Kotono."

Kotono was listening to her loud music again, but when she realized Rai was looking at her, she took the left side of the earphone off. "I'm sorry, what?" she asked.

Asako sighed in annoyance, "She said to call her Rai. Geez, you have to stop doing that."

"I'm sorry," Kotono smiled uneasily at Rai.

"Oh, that's fine," Rai said, waving her hand. Kotono then put her earphone back on and Rai sweat dropped. She turned to Asako. "Why does she do that?"

Asako rolled her eyes. "I don't really remember. She mentioned it once… Oh yeah, something about not wanting to create close relationship. Like if she really likes someone and they end up dying, her tears would burn her."

"That's why she's ignoring people by listening to music?" Rai questioned.

"I don't like it either," Asako shrugged. "Well, I find it annoying but she thinks I'm annoying when it comes to boys too. It's a fair world for the both of us."

Rai shook her head. _What's wrong with these girls?_ She thought, feeling disappointment in them. Michie and Naruto seemed to be doing well than these other two siblings.

"But you know what," Asako grinned. "It's really too bad if Kotono doesn't get to talk to you. You're like the nicest person I've met so far. Ayaka-san and Hinata-san are always so kind too. I like that. Although, Ayaka-san's a bit different when it comes to make me sit with my classmates during lunch hour…"

"Ah, I see," Rai smiled.

They walked and talked a bit more and reached to the market. They entered it and saw Yuki standing behind the counter, smiling at them. "Welcome," she greeted with a wave. "Rai! You're finally back!"

"Sorry about that," Rai walked up to the counter. "I work part-time at a café and I volunteer at the orphanage and the animal shelter. There's college work too."

Yuki sighed, thinking how hard it would be if she were the one doing all of the work. "You're so hardworking, Rai…" she sighed again. "Maybe I should do some volunteering too."

"Orphanage and animal shelter?" Asako questioned in shock. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that you were so busy!"

Rai turned to her, waving her hand. "I was free today and I planned to come here sometime. So don't worry about it!" She blinked at Asako. Kotono was already gone down the market to get what she came for. "Oh yes," she looked back at Yuki. "Asako wants to volunteer here too."

Yuki looked over to Asako, who smiled politely as she could. "Oh really?" she smiled. "Coming from Rai, I'll ask Zabuza about it." She walked around the counter, chuckling. "I'll make sure to let him know that you're here too, Rai."

Kotono looked around and saw piles of sodas. She walked over to grab two packs of diet coke, but then dropped them back in the same place. It was rather heavy and she probably could only survive hold them for a couple of minutes. "I should have grab a cart," she sighed, rubbing the back of her head.

Haku walked by and carried the two packs. She looked at him and he smiled. "Hello again," he said. "You sure love diet coke, don't you?"

"Something like that," she said, slightly returning the smile.

He noticed a light red rash around the left side of her neck, but he didn't say anything about it. They walked back to the counter and heard Zabuza and Asako talking out loud at each other.

"I thought I already said no," Zabuza said. "Getting paid or not, no is a no."

Asako pouted, "Don't you want my help? Come on, I can be helpful! Give me a chance!"

Yuki and Rai stood next to each other, leaning back against the counter and watched them talking it out.

"Like what, am I going to do some physical labor?" Asako asked, standing up towards Zabuza. "I can be useful when it comes to that."

Haku and Kotono walked up to Yuki. He put the diet cokes on the counter. "I'm buying these," Kotono told Yuki, taking out her little yellow wallet. Yuki went behind the counter.

"Don't judge me just because I'm a girl!" Asako angrily said.

"They might take a while," Yuki smiled cheerfully.

Kotono handed her coins to pay for the diet cokes. "I figured," she said, looking over to Asako and Zabuza. "…She could just volunteer at some other store. Why this one, I wonder?"

Zabuza walked away and Asako stomped after him. "Fine, but let's see how long you can survive, kid," he said. "Rai! If you're not doing anything, follow us!"

"Okay, daddy," Rai giggled, hurrying behind them.

"Wait, Asako!" Kotono called. "You're not going back to the dorm with me?"

"Not after I deal with this man first!" she shouted, following Zabuza to the back.

Kotono paused and looked at Yuki. "Did Rai just call him _daddy_?" she asked, stunned.

Yuki laughed, "Yeah, but they're not related. They just have known each other for a very long time. Do you want a receipt?"

"No," she shook her head. She grabbed the two packs and smiled nervously. "Well, I'll be leaving then…"

Haku looked at her, curious. "Will you be okay heading back by yourself?" he asked.

She nodded, "Yeah." She smiled and walked away, looking over her shoulders. "I'll see you guys next Sunday then."

"Bye," Yuki waved, chuckling. Haku waved too.

Kotono walked out of the market and hurried down the sidewalk. She went on for a block and put the packs of diet coke on the bench nearby and sat on it. She sighed heavily and leaned forward, looking at her pale hands. "It's been two years… huh?" she closed her eyes and leaned back.

Her neck started to act up and she scratched it. She tried not to show Asako that she had sweated a bit when she was trying to find the guys who sent her the love letters. She sat up and continued to go back to the dorm. Along the way while she was looking around, she saw a building that read: Pet Shop. She wanted to take a look and headed over there.

[…]

"Gaara, why did you want to buy a scissor for?" Kankuro asked with a puzzled look. The two brothers walked down the street together. Gaara was holding to an unopened pack of the black scissor. "We have a lot back in the study room."

"I didn't ask you to come along," Gaara said. "Jiraiya and Tsunade don't allow us to take the scissors from the dorm anyway."

Kankuro scratched his face. He was still confused and asked, "Why do you need to take it with you out of the dorm for then?"

"To cut papers to pieces," he said.

"…What?" Kankuro blinked. What was there to cut out around here?

Gaara didn't want to talk about it anymore and remained silence. They were walking slowly. Then they noticed Kotono up ahead. She was staring through the building's large windows. There were two packs of sodas on the ground next to her.

"What is she doing there?" Kankuro wondered out loud.

Kotono turned her head and saw the two of them. She smiled and walked to them. "Can I borrow some money?" she asked. They stared at her blankly. "There's this very cute bunny that's rather expensive, but I really want it. I'll pay back double?"

"Do you even know how to take care of rabbits?" Kankuro inquired. "Animals needs so much care, you know. And how are you going to pay back double? Do you have a part-time job?"

"I'm going to get one soon," Kotono just decided. "I just want it today…"

"Don't be stupid," Gaara told her. "Jiraiya and Tsunade might let you work part-time, but you're too weak to work out there. And you don't need a pet."

Kotono sighed and walked back. "Fine, I'll just have to ask some other people," she said. She didn't want to argue with people who she doesn't even know yet. She stared at the little white furred and red-eyed bunny in a little cage. "Oh…" she smiled in hunger. She looked back at Kankuro and Gaara with puppy eyes. "You guys, I'm going to cry if you don't buy it for me today…"

Kankuro pushed Gaara with his shoulder and he stumbled towards Kotono. "You're the one with the money," Kankuro said. "I didn't bring any of mine."

Gaara glared over his shoulders and then to Kotono. "We're only going to get a cheaper one," he told her. He threw his scissor to Kankuro and he caught it.

"Make sure no one steal these," Kotono pointed down to the diet cokes.

Kankuro nodded as the two entered the shop. He stared into the shop through the window and watched the two wandering around. There were a few people in there, deciding on their own pet. Kotono was pointing at the bunnies with a pout and Gaara shook his head 'no' at them. Kankuro turned around and sat leaned against the window. "This could take a long time," he yawned. He looked up at the sky and it seemed to be getting cloudier.

He waited and waited. Then Gaara walked out, looking quite exhausted. He opened the door for Kotono, who carried a black cage with a small brown furred and black-eyed rabbit in it. "Thanks, Gaara-san," she smiled, holding up the cage in the air to look at the rabbit.

"Just pay me back," he said. He walked over to Kankuro and picked up the two packs of diet coke. "But you don't have to double it when you do."

Kotono was quiet for a second. "I was surprised to know that you have so much money in your card," she looked at him. "Your family must be quite rich."

"Rich enough," he said, walking down the path back to the dormitory.

She followed and walked beside him. "Kankuro-san and Temari-san are your older siblings, right?" she asked. "And you're a grade higher than them?"

Kankuro stood quietly where he was, staring at their backs. He was a bit surprise to actually see Gaara interacting normally with a girl like her, who always went listening to her songs on her mp3 player. Usually Gaara would talk to anyone after knowing them for a month or two, like how he does it with the other girls back at the dorm. For the other girls who like to annoy him, he would talk back if they just met, something like Nana and Gaara back in middle school. Kotono was like a new category now. She doesn't seem to intentionally annoy Gaara and it hadn't been a month yet.

"Kankuro," Gaara called, looking back. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," he said. Then he mumbled to himself, "I gotta tell Temari this."

"What do you think of your siblings?" Kotono asked, looking at him with wide eyes.

Gaara turned away. "I rather not say," he replied.

Kankuro walked closer to them and listened to their conversation. They were still on the topic about brothers and sisters when they reached to the dorm. Kankuro sighed tiredly, caring less about Gaara now and hurried inside the dorm.

Kotono sat on the porch and put the cage on her lap. Gaara was going to go in to the dorm and put the diet coke away, but he stopped at the door and saw Kotono opening the cage. "What are you…?"

She opened the cage and the rabbit leaped out, running off towards the bushes. Kotono and Gaara were frozen in their spots, looking at where it had disappeared off. She blinked and slowly looked at Gaara, who was expressionless. "…Why didn't you run after it?" she asked, pointing at the bushes. "You know that I weak."

He groaned, slapping his face.


	12. Mission 2: Hinata's Confession

Narrative

"Talking"

_Thinking_

"_Speaking in another language_"

* * *

**Chapter 12 – Mission 2: Hinata's Confession**

Date: Friday, April 24

"Mission two," Nana said out loud.

"Huh?" Ayaka looked up from the boiling pot. They were making dinner on a Friday night and Hinata was helping them.

"Nothing really," Nana said. She sliced the onions slowly, thinking about the mission two.

Ayaka went back to the pot and dropped round slices of carrots in. By the sink, Hinata was scaling fishes. She sighed and Ayaka looked up again. "Is something the matter, Hinata?" she asked.

"Well…" she looked at the fish. "Lately at the dinner table… the atmosphere has been feeling… dull between me and Sa… Sai."

"…Really?" Ayaka wondered. She and Hinata sit in the same table as Sai, but she thought it wasn't so dull. Everyone was getting along just fine.

Nana's eyes shined. "Hinata-chan…" she smirked, slowly turning to where she was. "You… like Sai? I didn't know that."

Hinata twirled around in panic. "Please don't tell, Nana!" she pleaded. "And it's not that I was trying to hide it from you…!"

"No, no, it's fine," Nana skipped towards her. She put her arm around Hinata's shoulders, smiling. "I can help you with Sai if you want. I have a group of girls to help out too. What do you say?"

"What… do you mean?" Hinata asked.

[…]

Wynn was sitting in the study room, reading a thick book. In the room, Kotono, Shino, and Kisame were doing their own thing. Kotono was looking for a book so she walked around. Shino was flipping through the pages about bugs and Kisame was doing a little research for a small project.

Nana came charging in, slamming the door open and walked towards where Wynn was sitting at. "Let's go!" she grabbed Wynn's arm, dragging her out of the room.

"Where?" Wynn demanded, looking back at the thick book.

Kotono turned around and looked at Wynn's book. "Oh, here's the R encyclopedia." She sat down and looked through it.

"When you're done, give it to me," Kisame said, writing on his notebook.

[…]

Michie was lying on her bed, rearranging her makeup kit by color. She was bored to death and was just doing something to kill time before dinner.

The bedroom door was open so Nana and Wynn appeared in the hall. "Killer Bee, let's go!" Nana smiled brightly.

She quickly stood up. "Okay, Big Mama!" she said, hurrying to them.

"Where's Fierce Ox?" Nana asked, walking down the hall with the two girls.

Wynn remembered hearing Rai's voice down on the first floor when she was in the study room. "I think she was in one of the weight rooms," she told Nana.

"Good job, Venom Flower!" Nana grinned, giving her a thumps up.

[…]

"Why are we here again?" Rai asked. The study room had people in it so they were now in the women's changing room.

"For mission two!" Nana said, grabbing a blackboard out of nowhere. There were two chibis on the board, a Hinata and a Sai.

Michie snapped her fingers. "Ah, I knew it was Sai's name that she wrote on that day!" she said, smiling.

"What's the plan this time?" Wynn asked, crossing her arms.

"Miss White Eyes has hire us for mission number two!" Nana said, pounding her chest. "She's counting on our jobs as the Almightily Girls!" Michie raised her hand. "What is it, Killer Bee?"

"Who's Miss White Eyes?" she inquired.

Nana laughed, "It's Hinata, of course!" She tapped the stick on the board.

"Oh, so that's going to be her nickname," Michie nodded to herself.

"The plan?" Wynn asked again.

"Miss White Eyes will write a note to her crush, Mister Fake Smile, in a green envelop that will be in a bigger envelop addressed to Venom Flower, which will be slid under Venom's door of her room!"

Wynn nodded with wide eyes, "I see…" She looked over to Michie, "Who's Mister Fake Smile?"

The blonde shrugged, "Don't know."

Rai whispered over to them with a smile, "That has to be Sai."

"Oh yeah." Wynn remembered.

"Miss White Eyes wants this letter to be given to Mister Fake Smile as soon as possible. So Vemon Flower!"

Wynn stood up, "Yes Big Mama?" She saluted to Nana.

Nana slapped the stick onto her other free hand, "You will get that letter exactly a minute before dinner begins! Get there in time before your roommate, Hiita, gets to it."

Michie looked at Rai, "Why doesn't Hiita have a nickname?" When Rai shrugged, Michie looked at Nana with another question, "Why would Hiita be there in the room right before dinner?"

Nana spun around, crossing her arms to her back, "Who knows! May never know!" Then she turned to Wynn with a stern look in her eyes, "But get there before Hiita does!"

Wynn nodded, "Yes Big Mama!"

Michie rose her hand again, "What's my role?"

"Killer Bee? Well, you will accompany Venom Flower to be a 'witness' that you two had to get something from your rooms together! Make it less suspicious!"

Michie also saluted, "Yes Big Mama!"

Rai chuckled, rising her hand, "Why am I here?"

"You do nothing but to be my extra brain just incase one day I lose my smarts!" Nana told Rai.

"Sounds good enough." Rai hummed to herself with a big smile on her face. Apparently Nana had forgotten about the promise for Rai to take care of mission two, but it was all right.

Nana slapped the black board, "We have only one plan. So we better make this work or else Mission Two will fail and the All-Mighty Girls will lose their creditability!"

"Possibly even our fame!" Wynn added with a laugh.

Nana nodded, "Yes! That too!" Nana turned around yet again, "All right girls, get into position!"

[…]

Tsunade looked over at the tables when dinner was ready to begin, but before she could declare dinner to start, she realized there were two empty seats at two different tables. She looked over at Jiraiya who just shrugged. She angrily turned back at the two tables, pounding on her table harshly, making everyone jump. "Where's Michie and Wynn?" She demanded.

Rai instantly stood up, "I saw them go upstairs." She quickly lied. She looked at Nana for some help.

Nana too instantly stood up, "Yeah. They told me they'll be right down after putting something away."

Tsunade looked at Nana and Rai suspiciously, making both girls sweat drop at the angry looking woman. Before Tsunade could open her mouth, Michie and Wynn both popped into the dinning room and bowed at everyone, "Sorry we're late everyone!" Both declared at the same time.

Tsunade turned to them, "You're late!"

"We're sorry!" Both cried again.

Jiraiya laughed and waved his hand, "Let them be Tsunade." Before the woman could say anything Jiraiya gestured at the two girls with his hand, "Go on girls, find your seats."

Tsunade crossed her arms at Jiraiya for being so lax. She sighed and sat back down, eating first and everyone else followed with loud conversations.

Wynn took a second bite and then took out the green envelope Hinata had prepared. Hinata saw the envelope and adverted her eyes instantly. Her hands moved to grab the food in the dishes prepared in the middle as quickly as possible and then gobbled the food down as soon as it reached to her separate plate. Ayaka could only freeze in shock at Hinata's nervousness, though she had no idea why the black haired girl was being so nervous about.

Wynn slid the envelope towards Sai as natural as possible. Sai looked up from his food and at Wynn who looked like the usual. "Hmm, what's this?" He asked her.

Wynn went back to her food, "The money I owe you." She told him with a full mouth.

Sai looked at the green envelope and then back at Wynn, "Wahh…?"

Deidara smirked widely, "If you're not going to take the free money, I will." Just when he was about to grab the envelope (and Wynn choking on her food in the background due to her panicking), Sai took it into his hands quickly, glaring at Deidara.

Wynn began to choke endlessly, covering her mouth to make sure no food fragments would cough out at others. But being in a rush, she bumped into David who sat right behind her facing the other way at the table. And bumping into him made forced his face to meet his food on his plate. She ignored the situation, hearing Asako's loud laughter. She dashed into the kitchen, turning the sink on as she drank from the faucet. Everyone stared at the empty seat and then at Asako and David, they too began to laugh at David's face filled with food.

[…]

Later that night, Sai opened the thin envelope in his room to only find a letter instead of cash. Sai stared at the letter in the envelope and then back up. He gave the air around him a dry look, "Wynn that liar." Sai sighed and took the letter out. He began reading it. "I don't get it." He stated out loud. At least he knew it was from Hinata.

Suddenly, his door slammed opened and Naruto burst in a panic. "SAI!"

Sai looked up at Naruto without moving, "Yes?"

"Do you… HAVE… a brush?"

Sai gave Naruto a flat look, "Why?"

Naruto grabbed his spiky hair and started to pull on it, "I lost mine somewhere and Sasuke and David won't share theirs with me!" He began to cry.

Sai sighed and nodded, "Right right. Um." He looked over to his dresser. He found his brush easily. Sai gestured with his head, "The brush is on my dresser." Naruto had thanked him quickly and Sai instantly went back to the letter to break the code. He ran it a couple of times before sighing loudly, "I don't get it."

Naruto peaked at Sai's letter, surprising Sai a bit, "Dude, it's a love letter!"

Sai's eyes grew wide, "You can understand what she wrote?"

"Yeah!" Naruto grinned widely, "Kotono used to write love letters a lot!"

Sai sweat dropped, _'In this same code?'_ He shook his head, looking up at Naruto, "Is it really a love letter?" He asked, surprised. Naruto only nodded, combing with the white brush in his hair continuously. "I… never knew."

Naruto looked at Sai with one eye opened the other closed, "really? I could easily tell."

Sai raised an eyebrow, "Oh _really_?"

Naruto nodded, jumping to Sai's side, "Yeah, totally! Hinata is all shy and quiet when it comes to you! It's _so_ obvious!" Naruto grinned widely once again, "Trust me, when it comes to girls liking a guy, I know the best!"

Sai nodded slowly, "Hmm… what should I do then?"

Naruto looked at the letter again, "Well, it says here that she wants to meet you outside on the porch near midnight." He continued to brush his hair.

Sai closed his eyes, sighing, "Well… I'm honored and flattered, but I don't like Hinata in that way."

Naruto shrugged, "Then just tell her that."

"I don't want to hurt her feelings." Sai told him.

Naruto scoffed. "No one wants to be hurt. But rejection is better than the pain of going out with someone for so long to only find out he or she doesn't love you, you know?"

Sai nodded, "You're right." He stood up, "Then I guess I should tell her the truth."

Naruto smiled, nodding. He stood up determinately with Sai, "Good. I'm glad you found your choice. And it's the right one at that." He laughed. With one last brush on his hair, he grabbed Sai's hand and gave back the white brush, "Thanks for the brush. Now my hair is all smooth and beautiful."

Sai looked down at the white brush curiously and gave Naruto a flat look, "This isn't my brush."

Naruto's eyes grew wide, he jumped back due to shock, "What? Then whose is it?" He demanded, scared.

"Neji's. Mine is black and over there." He pointed at the dresser next to Neji's dresser.

Naruto sweat dropped and looked around. The other dresser at the end of the room had potato chip bags on them. "Oh, no wonder the hair was so long. I should have guess."

Sai sighed, "Yeah, you should have."

Naruto slowly turned to Sai, "Um… don't tell Neji, Sai." Sai lightly glared at the innocent smiling Naruto.

[…]

Hinata stared calmly at the almost full moon. She smiled at the serenity midnight was. But deep within her heart, it was pounding miles per hour. She took a deep breath and remembered Ayaka's words before leaving her room to come out at the porch: 'do your best and fight your hardest! It's better to know than not!' Hinata crossed her arms at her back as she stared at the moon again.

Near the scene the All-Mighty Girls were hiding in the bushes, staring intently at Hinata. Michie looked at Nana nervously, "Is it really okay to witness this?"

Nana nodded with a grin, "Of course it is!"

Rai chuckled nervously, "We must make sure things are going smoothly."

Wynn nodded, "Yes, but that really did not do anything last time."

Michie gasped, "You guys did the same thing to me too?" She asked, a little shock.

Rai and Wynn pointed at Nana, "It was her idea." Even though it wasn't.

Before the All-Mighty Girls could continue on their conversations, the front door had opened and Sai had walked out seriously but calmly. Hinata literally jumped in her place. "SHH!" Nana had hushed the girls. "It started!"

There was a whole minute of silence between the couple. Wynn yawned as quietly as she could, "This is going nowhere." She whispered to Nana. "Mission Two is going to fail."

"Don't jinx it!" Nana glared at Wynn.

Wynn pouted, "Sorry."

Michie looked over at the two talking girls, "It's going to be all right. Hinata is a strong and nice girl. Sai will return the love back, no worries, right?" She smiled at the three girls, who all just frown in return. "Is…it?"

Rai chuckled nervously, "Well, it's quite obvious to everyone that Sai likes someone else."

Wynn nodded with a dry look in her face, "Yeah, and it's not Hinata."

Michie frown, horrified, "Then why did we accept the mission in the first place? Hinata is going to be heart broken!"

Nana shook her head, "The mission of the All-Mighty Girls is to help set up confessions for any girl who are in need of our help! We make sure that they will confess and makes sure everything goes smoothly and that the guy will come and meet them! We have no power to decide what they should and should not do." Nana lectured, sighing. "It's their choice."

Rai nodded, looking at Michie, "Yeah, if Hinata wants to tell Sai she likes him, then she can. We must leave the rest to them and fate."

Michie nodded slowly, looking back at the porch. She gasped loudly, making the girls look to where she was staring, "No one's there!!" She screamed, shooting up from her spot, with the three girls who follow suit.

"They're already finished?" Nana asked, horrified as much as Michie. "How? When? Why?" She demanded, her eyes filling with tears. "We missed the whole scene!"

"Nooo! I wanna to hear Sai's answer and Hinata's reaction!" Wynn began to stomp her feet.

Rai sighed, with a small smile on her face, "Oh well girls." She looked at the three of them, who began to run around in circles like children. "Girls…" When they didn't hear her, she sighed at them, laughing.


	13. Decisions On Presents

Narrative

"Talking"

_Thinking_

"_Speaking in another language_"

* * *

**Chapter 13 – Decisions On Presents**

Date: Saturday, April 25

In the afternoon, the teachers walked down the hallway to change classes. In classroom of 1-B, they had seven minutes to spare and started to chat.

"Hey, Asako," Nana smiled. The two of them were sitting next to each other. "You're really volunteering at that market, huh?"

Asako looked at her. "Yeah, whom did you hear that from?" she asked. She didn't know people would talk anything about her when it comes to working.

"I got it from Michie who got it from Kotono," she grinned. "Rai mentioned it too."

"I see, but why did you bring it up for?" Asako blinked in confusion.

She grinned wider. "Well, I heard from Lee who got it from Neji that you seem to like some guy who works there… so I was wondering…"

Asako stood up instantly and angrily pounded on her desk. "That bastard!" she glared. "It's been only one night and people knew about it already! I'm going to smack that Hyuuga once I see him! How dare he say that!"

Nana pulled her back down to her seat. "Are you going to confess to the guy at the market?" she asked, wondering joyfully. She started to say 'Mission Three' in her head over and over.

"Of course not!" Asako grumbled with a slight blush. "I'm not in that stage yet and I never confessed before either."

Disappointed, Nana leaned towards her. "Wait, then why did you desperately work so hard just to volunteer there? Wasn't it for getting close to that guy you like?"

Asako sighed and leaned on her palm. "That WAS my plan," she said. "But I wasn't thinking about that when Zabuza was telling me to do a lot of stuff. I was just determined to do what he asked of me so I wanted to prove myself. He's an odd person."

"Wasn't that just because he gave you too much to do that you forgot your reason?" Nana questioned further.

"I don't think I like that guy over there that way now," Asako said, moaning tiredly. "I noticed how he kept talking to Kotono. She kept getting the guys that I…" she paused. "Anyway, why are you asking me this?"

Nana leaned back to her seat. "Oh never mind… I'll find someone else…"

Asako tilted her head. "Huh?"

[…]

In the classroom of 1-C , Michie noticed Wynn's upset and depress look and walked over to her. Hinata and Ayaka were next to Wynn. "Is something wrong?" she asked as Wynn lowered her head on her desk.

"It's nothing to worry about," Wynn told her. "I just have something to do today at my parents' house so I'll be missing dinner at the dorm tonight."

"Party?" Michie smiled. "Sounds fun!"

Wynn chuckled nervously. "Heh, I wonder…"

Ayaka smiled, "Michie, it's something that Wynn never look forward to."

"Oh," Michie scratched her face. "Sorry… if I said something stupid."

"Its fine," Wynn assured her.

Michie looked at Hinata, who was quieter than usual. Sai must have rejected her but seemed to just stay as friends. Hinata doesn't seem happy about it and looked down. She just stared into space out, exactly how Ayaka would do most of the times.

Wynn started to mumbled and hid her face under her arms. _I'm not ready to see brother yet._ She thought bitterly. She turned her head and looked at the windows. There were clouds today too. "I probably won't be able to see the full moon tonight either…" she sighed. Everything seemed to be going downhill now.

[…]

"You're looking for people to join Clothing Design Club?" Kotono asked, who was leaning on her palm, sitting on her desk.

Hiita nodded. She was sitting on a desktop to Kotono's left. "I got everything ready," she said. "Now I just need more than two people to join when next Wednesday come."

Tenten was behind Kotono so she leaned in to talk with them. "You just started it, huh?" she looked up at Hiita.

Kotono grabbed her yellow cell phone out of her skirt's pocket and started to text. "I know Michie would love to," she smiled. "I'll join…" Kotono trailed off. She looked at Hiita. "Which days though?"

"I'm deciding on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays," she replied, crossing her legs and putting her hands behind her. Going to cram school was becoming a little drag so she needed to do something else. "As long people show up two days a week, it's fine."

"That's good to hear," Kotono smiled, going back to texting. "I work Mondays through Wednesdays after school… I'll ask boss if I can take next Wednesday off so I can go to the first day of the club."

Hiita paused. "You have a part-time job now?" she questioned.

"Hmm," she nodded.

"Where?"

"At Orochimaru's shop," she said. "Oma-san's been slacking a bit so he accepted me to work also."

"What?" Tenten gasped. "The Little Shop? …How long do you plan to work there?"

Kotono send the message and looked up at the ceiling. "When I don't feel like doing it anymore," she said. "Or either keep working until Mom quit her job here. She already has another job waiting back in America."

"What, you guys are going back someday?" Tenten asked, slightly moving off her chair.

"Hm, I don't know," Kotono said, putting her phone away.

Hiita remembered something and looked at Kotono. "Next Wednesday is actually a holiday, the Showa Day, so the club will have the first meeting next Thursday," she said. "You don't have to skip work on that day for the club…"

Kotono smiled pleasantly, "He said the shop's close on holidays. That's great. No work and school."

[…]

"Sai, Sai!" Naruto waved. His seat was beside Sai. "How did Hinata take it, huh?"

He sighed and looked the other way. "Well… pretty well…" he said. Last night she looked like she would cry but she didn't. "Yeah, pretty well, I guess."

"Can I go and spread the news?" Naruto asked excitedly.

Sai looked at him with a flat look. "I would prefer if we keep this to ourselves. There's no point telling everyone, right?"

Naruto shrugged, "I guess so." He took out his notebook and opened it. "Okay… what should I get for David's birthday. He has a lot of clothes in his dresser so maybe…"

[…]

David opened his eyes to the soft music that was playing. He found himself at a wedding ceremony under the bright sun. White flowers were arranged around the area and the wind was cool. "What the hell…?" he looked at his white suit. "Am I the groom?"

He looked around at the people and young girls walked down the aisle, throwing petals of flowers into the air. Then a girl, wearing the wedding dress followed them. He paused, realizing it was Kotono under the veil and he blushed.

"What the…?" he blinked. Suddenly all of the sounds became dead silent as Kotono walked down towards him. Then he heard someone crying from somewhere and turned around. "Who's that?"

"It's me, Ino! Wake up! Sensei's looking at you, you dummy!"

David opened his eyes and found himself in his desk. He raised his head slowly as everyone stared at him. A few were chuckling, especially Asako. He looked at the teacher who had brown hair, and he nervously rubbed the back of his head.

The class resumed without a word.

David sighed and pounded his head. "I can't be THAT obsess with Kotono," he mumbled to himself.

[…]

Asako ran out of the classroom 1-B as soon as the bell rung. The students filled the hallways after she ran to straight to the shoe lockers. Ino and Nana slowly walked out and followed Asako's dust of air.

"Damn, she moved like a jet plane," Shikamaru smiled in amusement, stepping out of the same room where Asako had left. "Hey, Choji, you're doing anything today?"

Choji, David, and Temari were behind him and they walked down the hall. "I'm always free after school," he grinned.

Temari sighed at them. "You two should really do something after school. Join a club or something," she suggested. "Shikamaru, there's a Chess Club here, you know?"

"It's too troublesome," he sighed heavier than her.

"Do you want me to make you?" she put her elbow on his shoulder. "I'll make you join the Soccer Team too. David and Choji can join along with you too. Heh." She grabbed his arm to stop him from walking and Choji stopped with them.

David walked around them and went ahead. He rather play Shoji with Shikarmaru than soccer. "Damn, I still have cram school," he quietly said, staring at the floor tiredly. He looked up and noticed Kotono looking into her shoe locker.

"That's… odd," Kotono said. She had been staring at her shoe locker for a long moment now.

David walked to her and looked at her back. "What is it, Kotono?" he asked.

"It's been four days," she said, changing her shoes. "There hasn't been a single love letter in here." _Well, makes life easier for me too, but…_ She scratched her head.

He was silence. _Was she expecting to go out with some guy?_ He thought.

She closed her shoe locker and turned to him. "How about you?" she asked. "Any love letters in your locker?"

He rubbed the back of his head and nodded. "Sometimes I even get something little to eat too," he said, sighing at the thought. Usually the snacks he got were his least favorites so he had to throw them away once he got off school grounds.

"Oh, the girls here are so thoughtful," she smiled. "I want something free to eat too."

"…Did you want something to eat?" he asked, half hopeful.

"Not really," she waved her hand. "Sometimes snacks make me hungry for more." Her cell phone in her pocket started to vibrate and she grabbed for it. She looked at who was calling and looked at David. "See you at the dorm," she walked backwards.

He nodded, "Yeah." She opened the doors and walked towards the school's gate.

"DAVID!" Lee came out of nowhere. He put his arm around David's neck and pulled him down. "What are you doing making such a scene?"

"Ow, hey," David lightly glared. "What are you talking about?" He looked up at him. Neji and Gaara walked up to them. David grunted as he struggled to pull away from Lee. "What are you guys doing together here?"

Neji frowned, crossing his arms. "The three of us are from the same class, did you forget?"

David broke free when Lee loosened his grip. He backed away from Lee. "Oh yeah, same as Kotono's…" he remembered, touching his neck. Lee left a slight pain around it. "What was that about making a scene, Lee?"

"You and Kotono," Lee pointed at him, grinning. "You two were just talking but it attracted a lot of people staring at the atmosphere near you guys."

David looked around and noticed that there were people staring. The girls and guys were whispering and chuckling. He frowned at their extreme happiness or annoyance expressions. He looked back at Lee. "And your point being?" he asked, going off to his shoe locker.

"Rumors will spread," Lee said, smiling proudly of how he knew high school works. "I mean, you're like the fourth top guy while she's the top fourth girl."

"That…" David looked over to him.

"That doesn't mean anything," Gaara said, walking pass them to his own locker.

David nodded, "Yeah, what Gaara said. It doesn't mean anything. Instead of thinking about the top four thingy, think about what to give me on my birthday next Monday, Lee." He opened his shoe locker and quickly switched shoes. Then he left out of the school.

"Oh right, his birthday," Wynn appeared by Neji, along with Michie. "I remembered about it last night, but totally forgot about it today."

"We still have the whole day tomorrow," Michie smiled. "Hey, do you guys know what he likes?"

Lee and Neji thought for a moment. "I heard his hair brush was getting useless," Lee said. "Something about Naruto using it too much…"

Michie's eyes sparkled. "I see! Maybe instead of giving him something, I'll brush his hair every morning until the month ends!"

The three looked at her with a dry look.

"I'm getting him a birthday card," Neji decided. He walked away to get his shoes. The others did the same and walked off together. Wynn and Neji were in the middle, Michie was by Wynn's right side and Lee was by Neji's left side.

"That's so lame, Neji," Michie said when she was thinking about what he was going to give David. They walked pass the school's gate. "You have to think of something else. A card is just too sad."

"Now I know what NOT to give you, Michie-san," Neji said, closing his eyes.

Wynn laughed, "I'll give him a card. If my mood changes, I'll get something else. What about you, Lee?"

Lee turned his hands into fist. "A punching bag!" he nodded, his eyes burning into flames.

Michie gasped, "Asa would soooooo love that, Lee! Get that for her when it's her birthday too!"

"A punching bag?" Neji looked at her. "What does she need that for?"

"What do you think?" Wynn slapped his back with a grin. "To train herself and beat you up every dinner time. Hahaha!" He looked at her with serious eyes. "…I'm just joking," she pouted.

"A punching bag on the ceiling or the ground?" Michie asked, leaning forward to look at Lee.

He leaned forward as well. "I was thinking getting one that could be place on the ground," he said, nodding to himself.

Wynn snickered, "Then you should get Asako one that connects to the ceiling. We'll set Neji up and make him enter the Uzumakis' room. Then Asako can jump out from nowhere and kick towards the punching bag that would hit Neji and then knock him out of the room, unconscious."

"Hey, I like that," Michie said, laughing out loud. She and Wynn looked at Neji, who narrowed his eyes at them. Michie smiled, "Oh, Neji, don't worry about it. I'll warn you when that happens."

Neji looked at Lee. "Don't buy anything so expensive, Lee," he told him, grabbing his shoulder. "Especially for the girls. They use them the other way around."

Wynn turned to Michie, "What are you going to give David when it's his birthday?"

She giggled, "My fourth favorite cologne on guys. I went shopping two days ago for fun and found one that I really love when I hold a guy's arm. Hehehehe. I'm getting that for the fourth top guy, David-chan."

The three looked at her with another dry look.

"Wow, you're really thinking about a lot of stuff," Wynn said, smiling slowly.

"Not really," Michie giggled. "It just sort of happened."

"Well, I'm fully recharged!" Wynn said and then laughing. She quickly changed her expression like she was meeting an unwanted death. "I'm prepared to meet my DOOM tonight!!"

Neji looked at Lee with a questioning look. "Does David even put on cologne?" he asked.

Lee shrugged. "No clue."

"He'll have to use it anyway," Michie hoped, skipping around.

Neji sighed and turned to another path. "I have cram school," he said. "I'll see you guys back at the dorm later."

"Bye, bye, Neji!" the three of them said in unison and waved happily.

He gave them a weird look before turning around and left. "Aren't they a happy bunch…" he muttered. He rubbed the back of his head and moaned in frustration. "A punching bag?"


	14. Relaxing In the Pool

**Author's Note:** For those who are reading, sorry for the slow update. I'm just too lazy to put the chapters up but I'm still writing it. I actually started on chapter 45, the cultural festival day… but I stopped writing for a whole month ever since. I'm might get back to it when I feel like it. So for now, I'll just slowly update the chapters on this site or when I'm in a good mood with nothing else to do.

* * *

Narrative

"Talking"

_Thinking_

"_Speaking in another language_"

* * *

**Chapter 14 – Relaxing In the Pool**

Date: Sunday, April 26

"Is it just me or has it been cloudy lately, hmm?" Deidara questioned as he looked up at the sky. He thought the weatherman said there would be sunshine all week. He was on the roof of Konoha Dormitory with Eria, cleaning the windows with rags. Today was Sunday so they were just doing their jobs as everybody was doing theirs.

Eria was cleaning the rag with water and slowly looked up. "I guess," she said. "I really don't care though." She looked back down and washed the windows. Every bedroom had a window on the ceiling so they could see what was in the room. Eria was washing the windows where the girls were and Deidara had the guys'.

He looked over to her. They were almost done and were at the center of the roof. "If you didn't, you wouldn't have looked up now, would you, hmm?"

She sighed, "Okay, I care a little bit. It doesn't look nice without the sun, but I rather not have a hot day either. Therefore, I really don't care."

They were silent, cleaning as they go. "Hey, Eria?" he looked over to her again. She didn't reply. He stopped working and leaned to look at her face. "Oh, Eria~"

"What?" she turned her head sharply to meet his eyes.

He smirked, "I like you, hmm."

"Don't waste my breath like that again," she gave him an unmoved look.

He snickered, "I just wanted you to talk to me more often. We'll be working together every week now, right? Let us be _great_ friends, hmm."

"I'll think about it," she said, looking away. "Being _good_ friends is enough already anyway." She turned her left wrist and looked at her black watch. It was already pass eight. "I'll be leaving soon, so let's hurry up with this already."

"…Where do you go every morning, hmm?" he asked, continuing his job. He still had his eyes on her though. She was silent again. "Oh, Eria~"

"I'm already done," she stood up, throwing the rag in her bucket. "I'll see you later."

Deidara sweat dropped. "Hey, wait… we're supposed to get it done together, hmm!"

[…]

Eria walked out of the dorm with a small white bag around her shoulder. She walked down the stoned stairs and noticed Oma sitting down at the steps. Eria wanted to avoid talking to her, but walked down the steps anyway. Oma heard someone coming and looked over her shoulders. "Sasori's not going to come this way," Eria told her.

She sighed in depress, turning away. "Yeah, I know, but I'm waiting for him anyway. I'll go in after an hour or two. Mom's wine is still in the air in there, right?"

"Pretty much," Eria said. She got to the bottom of the steps and walked away.

"Hey, didn't you park your car in the back?" Oma asked.

"No, I left it over here last night," Eria said. "I went out to buy a present for little David."

Oma smiled, "Wow, you're not that lazy now? Usually you would get a present at the last minute."

"Eh," Eria shrugged and walked away.

Oma stay seated, staring off to space. After a moment, she heard voices and looked over her shoulders. Deidara was dragging Itachi, saying something about Eria.

"Stop it, Deidara," Itachi said. "Hiita and I were just going to mop the hallways of the second floor before anyone else wakes up and slip, which might happen really soon if I don't go back."

"Oh, Oma," Deidara looked hopeful, ignoring his friend. He and Itachi walked down the steps. "Where did Eria go, hmm?"

"She probably got into her car and left already," she replied with a smile.

Deidara stared at her, surprised. "What? Her car's over this side, hmm?" he asked. She nodded. "Damn, I thought she was going to walk somewhere cause I thought her car was still in the back, hmm."

"You were going to stalk her?" Itachi asked with disbeliefs but still had a neutral look on.

"She's the one who sneaks out every morning," Deidara said, crossing his arms. "What if she's meeting some famous guy without letting us know, hmm? Hmm?"

Itachi turned to walk back to the dorm. "I'm going to go and do my job," he said. "You shouldn't worry about Eria. She can take care of herself."

"Like you know her, hmm," Deidara followed him, half unwilling.

Oma looked at their backs with a gentle smile as the two were heading back to the dorm. She saw a glimpse of the time they were all in high school, remembering looking at Deidara and Itachi's young backs. They were all grown up now. Itachi glanced back at Oma and he smiled at her. Deidara caught him doing so and patted his back with a smirk. She waved cheerfully to them as they entered the dorm.

"Geez, maybe I should have gone to college too," she thought out loud, chuckling. "Then again, nah."

[…]

Two hours had passed since lunch. Naruto, with a black bag in his hand, ran down the stairs and rushed to his left and stepped outside. Yes! The pool was empty. He went to another door on the left side and entered. He went straight towards the boys' changing room. When he got out in his orange swimwear, he looked at Asako who was also in her orange swimsuit. She just walked out of the girls' changing room and they looked at each other. They had black goggles around their neck.

He grinned at her. "Think you're going to win, huh?" he asked, getting his game face on.

She showed confidence and crossed her arms. "You know that I'm a better swimmer than you are, Naruto," she said, snickering. "Hehe, I move like the mermaid!" she wriggled her arms at her brother.

"Huh, big words," he beamed. "I'm the one with the stronger bones and it has been a while since we last raced! Let's just see if you can still beat me!"

"You're on!" she shouted with a wide smile. She slammed her forehead to his, which caused him to fall back against the wall and hit his head again. "Hahaha! I'll go there first!" She quickly ran out the door.

Naruto moaned painfully, touching the front and back of his head. He regained his strength and hurried out the door.

[…]

Kotono was lying on her bed, doing her homework and listening to her loud music with her headphones. She tapped her black pen on the beats and slowly wrote down the answers of her math.

Ayaka and Matsuo appeared at the open door of her room and peeped inside. There was only Kotono in the bedroom. The blonde looked up from her paperwork to the girls. She just smiled, going back to her homework.

"Well, can't invite her along," Matsuo said with a frown. "The water pool would kill her."

Ayaka smiled, "We will have time together when it's David's birthday. Let's go and find Michie if she wants to go to the pool."

Matsuo nodded and they both walked down the hallway. At the girls' bathroom, Michie walked out happily and almost bumped into the two girls. "Oh, Ayaka-san and Matsuo-san," she waved with her two hands. "Done with today's chores too?"

"Yeah," Ayaka nodded. "Right now, there are some people in the pool. Ayaka and I thought we should try to get more people to join the fun."

Michie blanked out. "…Uh… I don't know how to swim," she slowly said.

"Heh," Matsuo smirked. She grabbed her hand and pushed her to her bedroom. "I'll teach you! Go and get your swimsuit ready!"

"But I don't have a swim suit for a reason," Michie said, sweating from the fear of drowning.

[…]

Michie ended up wearing one of Asako's black swimsuit and she walked towards the pool nervously like she was going to faint. Ayaka and Matsuo were already in there, along with Naruto, Asako, Hiita, Itachi, and Kisame. Matsuo had mentioned to Sai to bring more guys along too.

"Come right in!" Matsuo waved. Her swimsuit was green and white. She swum closer to the edge and put her arms towards Michie. "Just jump and I'll catch you, Michie!"

"Eh?" Michie's eyes widen. "J-Jump?"

Matsuo laughed, "I'm stronger than you think! Trust me!" She waved her arms above her head. "Or do you want one of the boys to catch you?"

"Can I just dip in?" Michie asked, her eyes filled with bubbling tears. She looked around at the pool with a frightened look. Asako was going underwater and coming back up for air. Then she went down again for a while. Naruto then was competing with her to see who holds their breath the longest. Hiita floated in the middle of the pool, just chilling. Itachi and Kisame were just talking at the far end of the pool.

"Just five people in the pool, huh?" Sai walked out of the changing room's door. He wore a black swimwear. Behind him were Shino, who wore a brown swimwear, and Neji, who wore a dark gray swimwear. "That's a good thing," Sai said, rubbing his head. He only saw Ayaka, Matsuo, Hiita, Itachi, and Kisame in the pool. There was still a whole lot of room for more, but the less the better.

As the three guys got in, Michie nervously stepped back. "Well, I don't think there's enough room for all of us," she said, turning around. "I'll be going back…"

Matsuo shouted, "Are you going to run for the rest of your life?" Michie looked back at her. "At school, you'll eventually have to go through this. You'll get a failing grade for sure. Come in now, it'll be like practice before that happens."

Michie faced the pool, thinking about the possibilities of what would happen if she had a swimming test. She would fail for sure. "Okay… fine," she agreed, slowly walking towards the pool.

Sai swam over to Matsuo with a flat expression. "That isn't tru…"

She splashed water at him and hissed, "She doesn't know that! I'm doing this for her own good. My intentions are always GOOD." She smiled and looked back at Michie, who begun running. "Wait, wait! Don't run and jump!"

Michie, whose head started to become blank, jumped into the air and towards the pool. She gasped as she realized the back of Shino's head. "WATCH OUTTTT, SHINOOOO!" she cried, covering her face.

Itachi and Kisame stopped talking and looked over where they heard Michie and a loud splash.

Eria walked outside with a dark violet swimsuit. "Hm?" she paused and looked at the pool.

Matsuo and Sai helped Michie up to the surface and Michie was coughing out water. Ayaka, worried about Shino, asked him if he was all right.

Eria silently walked backwards, but then someone behind pushed her towards the pool. She looked up with an annoyed look. "What are you doing, Deidara?" she asked, unhurriedly trying to stop in her heels.

He smirked, "Just wanting you to join in the fun, hmm." He was wearing his blue swimwear.

Hiita swum over to Neji with a blank stare, swimming pass the loud ruckus by Michie. "Hey," she said. He looked at her. "About the English sentence that we learned yesterday from cram school…"

"Which one?" he asked, willing to take his mind off the scene.

Suddenly, Naruto burst out of the water beside them, quickly swimming away. He had Asako's goggles in his hands. "Hahahahahahaha!" he laughed happily.

Asako jumped out of the water and her elbow touched Neji's arm. "Naruto, you freaking cheater!" she shouted but was smiling. When her vision became clear and she felt someone beside her. She looked at Neji, who looked back at her with a calm face. "AHHH! Skin contact!" She screamed and splashed water right in his face.

Hiita had ducked into the water before it got to her. She went back up and found Asako swimming after Naruto. She looked at Neji, who didn't look upset at all and just stared into space. "I'm surprised how you can handle her bad personality like that," she smirked.

He sighed heavily. "For two weeks and sitting by her at the dinner table…" he leaned against the edge. "I'm getting a little bit used to it."

Hiita chuckled, "Although, I imagine her to be more aggressive than that. Skin contact…? I thought she would have snap. I wonder if something good happened."

Neji knew what it was. She was working at the market again and she must have had fun being around with Haku. "Probably something did happen," he said, uninterested.

Sai and Matsuo watched Michie float. Her head was under the water for a while and she was waving her arms up in the air. Matsuo reached out for her and pulled her up into the air. Michie was crying, holding onto Matsuo. "I was SOOOO scared…!" she cried. "I want to go back inside!"

"No, no, it'll take more time to learn," Matsuo smiled brightly, letting Michie go again. Michie's head sink back under the water and she started to struggle.

"You'll kill her, Matsuo," Sai frowned, helping Michie up and pulled her to the edge. "Why don't you start something more basic? Try floating up while holding the edge, Michie-san."

Michie's body was shaking and she held onto the edge as if her life depended on it. _I wish Nagato were here to teach me…_ She pouted.

Hiita slowly swim over to Michie and floated beside her. "Hello, Michie," she greeted with a smile. "I always wanted the time to talk to you about the club. Kotono had told you about it, right?"

All of Michie's worries vanished, but her hands didn't let go of the edge. "Oh yes," she nodded happily. "I wanted to know the results of the clothing, and the description of it because I wanted to put make up on the people who will be wearing it, showing it off… Are we going to have a fashion show?"

"Fashion show…? Or do you mean a beauty contest?" Hiita asked, index finger on her chin.

"Oh, even better!" Michie said. "It would be like an event at school! Can I be the vice president? We have a lot to think before we start the club."

"Yes, if you can be reliable," Hiita nodded.

Michie determinedly smiled. "Yes, I can!"

Ayaka was swimming silently and slowly with Shino by her side. She glanced over at the other college people. Itachi was talking to Eria as it seemed they both were talking about something casual, but Deidara kept trying to get her attention. Kisame, bored, floated in the water beside them. Shino looked over at Ayaka who seemed to have stopped swimming. "Something the matter?" He asked over to her, swimming back to her again.

Ayaka looked back at Shino, smiling. She shook her head. "Nothing." She smiled brightly this time, "It's just nice to spend time with everyone."

Shino chuckled as he turned around, "Yes."

Ayaka swam towards his side now, "I wonder what Tsunade-san and Jiraiya-san have in store for David's birthday."

Shino's face turned from happy to dreadful, "No idea. But let's hope it's not as extreme as other people say that it is."

Ayaka laughed at Shino, making him blush. "I think I'll enjoy them either way." She swam on her back now, moving further away from Shino but still keeping her eyes on him, "Because we'll be able to be together and get to know one another even more." She laughed, swimming faster now. "I love to spend time with people that I care a lot for." She called over to him, smiling.

Shino looked at Ayaka, "Hm. Yes." He agreed, following her who was swimming towards Michie and Hiita.


End file.
